Top | Dinosaur pie and other favorites

Dinosaur Pie

(recipe, Georgen Charnes)

Introduction

This recipe could also be called "Casserole Decoded." I add cheese, noodles, and tuna for tuna noodle casserole with a breadcrumb topping. Different meats, vegetables, and broth have different flavors. This is a good recipe to use up leftovers or abundant zucchini. And your kids will eat it because it's got dinosaurs on it, and you let them cut them out themselves. It's adapted from Alton Brown's chicken pot pie recipe.

Ingredients

  1. 4 cups organic frozen vegetable mix (peas, carrots), or fresh veggies
  2. Olive oil
  3. 3 Tbsp. butter
  4. 1 cup chopped onion
  5. 1 cup chopped celery
  6. 1½ cups low sodium organic chicken broth
  7. ½ cup milk
  8. 3 Tbsp. flour
  9. 1 tsp. curry powder
  10. 2 Tbsp. parsley
  11. 1 tsp. salt
  12. ½ tsp. fresh ground pepper
  13. 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
  14. 1 package puff pastry

Steps

  1. Take puff pastry out to thaw the night before.
  2. If you're using frozen vegetables, toss them with some oil, put them on a cookie sheet, and roast them a bit.
  3. In saute pan, sweat the onions and celery with some salt and butter. When tender, throw in whatever fresh veggies you're using. Let cook a while.
  4. In the microwave (right in the glass measuring cup), heat the 1½ C. broth and ½ C. milk for about a minute.
  5. Back at the saute pan, scoot the veggies to the sides of the pan. In the middle, heat more butter. Then add the flour and let cook for 1 to 2 minutes with the curry powder. When the flour is full of butter and cooked, start adding the hot milk/broth mixture. Stir well and let simmer to thicken and cook. Add salt, pepper, parsley. Add the roasted vegetables and chicken.
  6. Then pour into a baking pan. I use a 13" x 9".
  7. Top with puff pastry rounds or shapes made with cookie cutters. I use dinosaur cookie cutters, hence "dinosaur pie."