A dinner to remember

Tonight I wanted something kind of homey for dinner, but l also wanted something that wasn't beef or pork, and that I hadn't made before. This was a tall order for a Sunday evening. I sat down with my copy of Everyday Food for September and began browsing. As luck would have it, I was inspired. I found out later that I would be eating dinner alone, so there is no one else to testify to how good this was, but I can assure you that I loved it. I think it was really the perfect thing for tonight, and I have lots of leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Here are the tempting results to inspire you:



And here is the recipe the way I made it!

Chicken Potpie With Green Beans and Squash
Serves 8; prep time: 1 hour; total time: 1 hour

4 tablespoons butter
1 large onion, finely chopped
4 medium carrots, sliced diagonally into 1/4-inch-thick pieces
6 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup dry white wine (I only had 1/2 a cup, so I used 1/2 cup of chicken broth to make up the difference, the wine does taste nice in the final dish, but if you are short or can't get any just use what you have.)
3/4 teaspoon dried tarragon
Coarse salt and ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 pounds green beans, trimmed and broken into 1-inch pieces (the green beans are good, but I only had a handful at home and the ones at the store didn't look as good, I used my handful of green beans and added in half a bag of frozen peas as a substitute)
1 pound yellow squash, quartered lengthwise, cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces (I used the two medium squash that I had and that was it, I'm not sure it was a pound, but this recipe allows you to be flexible like that, just do what seems right)
3/4 cup heavy cream
Roasted Chicken (you can roast your own chicken if you want, but I just bought a whole roasted lemon pepper chicken from the grocery and pulled the meat off the bones while it was still warm. A 3 lb. bird should give you about 6 cups of meat, which is the goal for the recipe, but I didn't check the size of mine and it seemed like plenty anyway. Just be sure to remove the skin before you shred the chicken.)

Prepare the chicken before you start with the other steps.

1. Heat butter in a large saucepan over medium-low. Add onion and carrots; cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 10 minutes.

2. Add flour; cook, stirring, 2 minutes.
(it looked really strange after this step, so I didn't take a picture. But, don't worry if it looks strange for you too, just make sure the heat is low enough so that the flour doesn't start sticking or burning before it's time to add the liquid.)
3. Add wine (and/or chicken broth), 2 cups water, and tarragon; season generously with salt and pepper. Stir briskly to prevent any lumps from forming.

4. Bring to a boil (you won't know how thick the sauce will be until is starts to boil). Add beans, peas (if you're adding them - they're quite good) and squash; reduce heat. Cover; simmer, stirring occasionally, until beans are crisp-tender, 8 to 10 minutes.

5. Stir in 3/4 cup cream and chicken; remove from heat. Ladle into dishes, and serve immediately. Cover any leftovers to keep warm.


This recipe is crustless, but the original recipe includes puff pastry to serve of the side, I'm sure this would be a great addition to the meal. If you don't have time to make puff pastry, this would also be very good with a crusty country bread to soak up any leftover sauce. Check out original recipe here.


The final addition to this delicious dinner was a small dessert cup that Dad brought back for me from his evening out. There was a banana on the bottom of the cup, but the cream itself tasted like banana too. There was caramel drizzled on the plate, it all made for a delicious treat.

This post is dedicated to the memory of all the sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, husbands, wives, friends, colleagues, and strangers who died on September 11th, 2001. And the people still suffering from the devastation of hurricane Katrina. Donate here.