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Sunday, March 04, 2007

more grocery-less creativity.....

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Another day, another dinner, another scramble to find stuff we could eat that would be yummy, have the odd vitamin and not necessarily be lentils and rice (we enjoy lentils and rice, but there isn't a lot of adventure in that, is there?).

Hubs was away playing hockey (he won and scored a goal! woohoo!) so I wandered downstairs to our chest freezer to see what I could find.....

I found food (obviously) - I found some rainbow trout (with SKIN - EWWWWWWWW), some raw shrimp and some mixed frozen seafood.

This started the wheels in my head turning - I'd seen a couple of seafood pot pie recipes lately (one in Food&Drink and one in Cooking Light) so I took some inspiration from those recipes, raided the fridge and came up with a meal that was surprisingly tasty! For those who like seafood, this is a must-try.....it's comfort food, but a little outside of the box, and it's made from relatively virgin ingredients, so you control exactly what goes into it.

Seafood Pot Pie with Lemon-Dill Biscuit Crust
adapted from the Food&Drink Magazine, Holiday 2005 (the original calls for whipping cream and puff pastry....)

8 oz salmon, trout or other firm fish fillet (I used rainbow trout, 2 small fillets)
1 T butter
1 clove garlic, minced
12 oz shrimp, peeled and deveined (give or take)
8 oz mixed seafood (you could used mussels, scallops or crab - I had a bag of mixed seafood that included mussels, calamari, cuttlefish, etc.)
2 oz lemon vodka (happened to have it, tossed 'er in!)
1 T butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 shallot, minced
1/3 c flour
1 c vegetable stock or water
1 c. light cream or milk
1 small can tomato/pizza sauce (about 1 cup)
1 cup cooked carrot pieces (I nuked mine)
1 small green pepper, chopped
1 t dried dill

Crust
1 1/3 c flour
2 t baking powder
zest from 1/2 lemon
1/4 t salt
1/2 t dill
3 T cold butter
1/3 c milk
1 T lemon juice

1. In a large skillet, sprayed with cooking spray, cook the fish fillets and remove skin (if there is skin - GROSS...can I say how freaking peeved I am that the blasted fillets had skin....it said so NOWHERE on the package). GRRRRRRR.
rainbow trout

2. When the fish is done, set aside. You'll cut it into pieces to put into the pie.

3. In the same skillet, melt 1 T butter along with the garlic. Cook shrimp and seafood until they are almost cooked (shrimp will turn opaque). Add vodka and sauté until the mixture bubbles. At this point, rather than using broth, I tossed the cooked seafood in a strainer and used a bowl to catch the juices. It made for a more flavourful broth!).

4. Again, in the same skillet, melt 1 T butter. Add onion and shallot and sauté for about 5 minutes over medium-low. Sprinkle in the flour and cook, stirring.

5. Gradually pour in the stock and stir until blended. Stir in the cream. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add the tomato sauce and dill and combine completely. Add in the green pepper and carrots. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and stir in the seafood and cooked fish.

seafood pot pie filling

6. Transfer to a large casserole dish.

7. To make the crust, I use a food processor, though it really isn't necessary if you're less lazy. First step is to combine the flour, salt, baking powder, dill and lemon zest. Next, cut in the butter - in the food processor, just pulse it. If you're going it by hand, use two knives to cut the butter into the flour. Next, add the milk and lemon juice. If it's not quite enough liquid to make a ball, add a little bit more milk.

8. Press the dough into a flat disk and roll out so it will cover your pot pie. I suck at this and my edges always look like crap, so I just fold 'em and press 'em with a fork. :) Prick all over with a fork, in the vain hope that your pie won't boil over. Meh.

lemon dill pot pie crust

9. Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes, until the crust is nice and puffy and a bit golden. Enjoy - it's SOOOOOOOO yummy. :)

Tasty yummy cooked pot pie

This makes 4 generous servings....or, enough for one hungry hubby, one hungry wife, and two tasty lunches. :)

Hubs came back from his hockey game and was quite stoked to come home to the sweet scents of seafood and baking biscuit. Judging by the speed at which the food flew of the plate, I think he liked it. ;) He espied the steaming leftovers and is quite excited about tomorrow's yummy lunchies. :)

Dinner time!

I'll buy groceries tomorrow, I promise...hehe. Thanks for reading! I LOooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooove your comments too! :)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

With the exception of some really random "Why on earth did I buy THAT" canned goods and a box of cereal, I'm foodless too. Busy, busy, busy. The recipe sounds terrific - impressive crust for sure!

Unknown said...

I have the same problem with crusts puffing up and causing messy boiling over. Try putting some rice or dry lentils on the bottom of the crust before you bake it. Then toss them before you add your filling.....

Thanks for another delicious looking dinner idea....

Anonymous said...

I don't even like seafood and that looks yummy!

I wish I could whip up meals the way you do!

leslie @ definitely not martha said...

shawnda - hubs and I are finally going to get some groceries tonight. I'm excited to have a plan.

wenderella - this particular pot pie doesn't have a bottom crust to it, though I'll definitely keep those tips in mind when I make other types of pies. I stopped putting in the bottom crust because I realize I don't really like soggy crust, and the crust is really not very good for you, so it's my compromise.

anonymous - I made a similar chicken pot pie a few weeks ago (check under the chicken tag). Sometimes I just have things come to me and it turns out. Other times it's disastrous......

And is it just me or did my last picture come out really crappy....ugh....if someone could explain the mysteries of photoshopping raw files to me, I would be eternally grateful. I'm thinking I should just shoot jpg and stop shooting myself in the foot with editing. I swear the picture started out okay.

Thanks for all the comments!!!!!!! :)

Unknown said...

mmmm. yum! Delicious looking as always!

Enjoyed all the yurt-ing posts too. Sounds like a great way to spend an anniversary!

Shaun said...

I have only just found your blog from a list at Writing at the Kithen Table (Freya and Paul's blog), and I think you're a hoot. This pie kinda surprised me, mostly because of the crust I think. I am not a fish pie kinda guy, but now I'm seriously tempted. You did a great job, in spite of the protestations of being un-domestic.

doctor T said...

I made this last week and OH MY EFFING GOD it was the best fish pie I've ever had -- and I had fish pie at my wedding. Seriously, this is on my list of must-cooks. I used red snapper, cheap seafood shit-mix (but fresh!) and some baby shrimp, with real lobster stock. Totally dreamy. You really should write cookbooks.

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