Eat like a Hobbit

Have you ever wondered…. “If I was a hobbit what would I eat??” Of course after watching The Hobbit in theatres who wouldn’t. The table was filled with lots of harvested vegetables, breads, meats and fish. I decided this was going to be the theme of our next dinner!! After doing some research online, I found out Hobbits love hearty, straightforward food. Things like home grown foods, rustic pies, potatoes, apples and beer.

As a searched online I was surprised by the astounding amount of meals inspired by LOTR. Even more surprising was that Denny’s have meals dedicated to The Hobbit movie. It was interesting to see all the creativity. After many searches later, I thought what better for dinner than pot pie!! I’ve always loved chicken pot pie so I scoured the internet for a suitable recipe for dinner. I came across one from Canadian Living called biscuit topped chicken pot pie.

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/biscuit_topped_chicken_pot_pie.php

(recipe below!)

Ingredients

1 tbsp (15 mL) vegetable oil
3 carrots, sliced
2 cups (500 mL) quartered mushrooms
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 tsp (2 mL) dried tarragon
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each of salt and pepper
1/3 cup (75 mL) all-purpose flour
1-3/4 cups (425 mL) milk
1-3/4 cups (425 mL) sodium-reduced chicken stock
2 cups (500 mL) green beans, cut in 2-inch (5 cm) lengths
3 cups (750 mL) shredded cooked chicken
1 tsp (5 mL) Dijon mustard
Biscuit Topping:
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tsp (10 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/3 cup (75 mL) cold butter, cubed
2/3 cup (150 mL) milk

Preparation:

In large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat; sauté carrots, mushrooms, onion, tarragon, salt and pepper until onion is softened, about 8 minutes.

Add flour; cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in milk and stock; bring to boil, stirring. Add beans. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, until thick enough to coat back of spoon, about 6 minutes. Stir in chicken and mustard. Spoon into round 8-cup (2 L) baking dish; set aside.

Biscuit Topping: In food processor, pulse together flour, baking powder and salt ; pulse in butter until crumbly. Drizzle in milk, pulsing just until soft sticky dough forms. Turn out onto floured surface; knead 10 times or until smooth. Pat out to fit top of baking dish. Cut into 8 wedges; arrange over chicken mixture.

Bake on rimmed baking sheet in 400°F (200°C) oven until biscuits are golden and no longer doughy on bottom, about 40 minutes.

I wanted to tackle the chicken pot pie first and after reading the recipe I wanted to make a couple of changes. I omitted the tarragon and used powdered mustard instead of Dijon. I also didn’t have any leftover chicken and didn’t want to bother with cooking chicken and then dicing it so I bought some ground turkey and ground pork. (Ok.. so this makes it turkey/pork pot pie and not chicken pot pie).

I think the filling for the pot pie turned out great with the ground turkey and ground pork (I think I will name this mixture ground purkey).

The main reason why I chose this recipe was for its biscuit topping. Most recipes with biscuit toppings calls for pre-made biscuit dough like Pillsbury (yuck!). Biscuits are so easy and quick. The biggest tip I can give when making flaky biscuits is to have cold butter. Make sure you are using utensils and not your hands. Using your hands just warms the butter and you end up with chewy dough. In the recipe, it says to use a food processor to make the biscuit dough. I didn’t. (BTW Hobbits didn’t have a food processor so why should I use one). When I made the biscuit mixture I made sure to dice the butter in chunks and as I mixed it into the flour and milk mixture I also made sure I didn’t mix it too much. Just enough to get all the ingredients to form loose dough just like the picture below. You can also see the chunks of butter which will help make the dough nice and flaky as it melts and bubbles.

I did knead the dough about 10 times just enough to make the dough into a roll. I cut the roll into biscuit shapes and placed it on top of the filling.

I also need some sides to complete the dinner. I decided to go simple and make roasted tomatoes, carrots and peas. I sliced the carrots lengthwise and cut some crosses on the tops of the tomatoes (so they wouldn’t burst in the oven). I didn’t add the peas just yet since they cook really quickly. The carrots and tomatoes were lightly tossed with olive oil and herbs.

The nice thing about roasting vegetables in the oven is the caramelization. This makes the vegetables sweet and nutty. To get a good caramelization, you need a hot oven (about 400 F). This is perfect because as you noticed, the pot pie also uses a 400F oven! I baked both the pot pie and vegetables at the same time. About 10 minutes before I everything was done, I added peas to the carrot and tomato pan.

45 minutes later…. The Hobbit meal was ready!!