Flaky Chicken Pot Pies

A new era has began....seriously? I'm not too sure. :P With all that excitement that went on during the Singapore Election in the past weekend, now is truly the cooling off time. Now that 6 oppositions candidates(only!?) have successful made their way into the parliament...out of the 87 seats, which is actually the highest number ever since independence. Whether their presence will cause any impact or political changes are yet to be known. Seriously, no hurry in there, since it's another 5 more years, ain't nothing we can do now (same old Singaporean attitude isn't it). Regardless, I just hope this election is good enough to make a wake up call to the government, a sign of the peoples' displeasure....will it? *sigh*

Enough rambling, back to today's post. Yesterday was Mother's Day, so it's very natural me (the good daughter, ha!) baked something nice for my mum. But instead of baking the usual cream cake for my mum. I decided to bake some Mini Chicken Pot Pies for her & my Dad to enjoy. One of the main reason is also my mum is not too much of a sweet tooth person, so making something savory seems like a better choice. But I did still bake her a fresh Strawberry Chiffon (less sweet) for desert as well. :) Anyway, here is the flaky chicken pot pie I'm talking about:

I have actually made chicken pies many times before when I was still in States. Somehow I just didn't get to make it again once I returned to Asia. Weird huh...for something so delicious. :P But again, there are so many different delicious food there that we can make! :)) But for now, here is chicken pie recipe:

Ingredients for Mini Chicken Pot Pies (makes about 6 of 7oz pies):

Pastry Pie Crust:

180g plain flour
120g unsalted butter, cold and cut into small cubes
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp cold water (optional, not needed if already moist)

Method:
In a large mixing bowl, sift the flour and salt in. Now add in the cold butter cubes and knead into the flour using just your finger tips until it resembles bread crumbs. Then adding one tablespoon of ice water to the flour mixture at a time till it just comes together. Wrap the dough into plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Chicken pie filling:
1 chicken breast, cut into small bite size
1 white onion, chopped
1 large russet potato, skinned and cubed
1 small carrot, cubed
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tsp corn flour
salt & pepper to taste

Method:

1. In cooking saucepan, set the heat at medium low and add 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Add onions and potatoes and carrots in, stir fry for 5 minutes, then add a couple teaspoon of water and cover to slow cook for 5 to 8 minutes till cooked.
2. Then add chicken and cook till opaque, add seasoning and chicken stock to cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Stir in cornflour and 1 tbsp mix into the chicken mixture to thicken it. Scoop up the mixture to let cool till needed.

Assembly:

1. Weigh out about 35g of dough for each pie pastry. While the remaining dough is also equally divided into 6 portions to be used as the pie cover later. (Or you can make a large pie). It should be enough to make at least 6 of 7oz pie pastry. Press the dough into the tart pan (or you can use disposable ones like me) and shape it nicely. Prick the base of the dough and repeat till all 6 of the pastry has been pressed in.
2. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes to pre-bake it. After done, remove from oven and cool the pie shells until needed.
3. Scoop about 3 to 4 tbsp of chicken pie filling in to the cooled pie shells. Then roll out the saved 6 portions of pie pastry dough into disc just enough to cover the pie cavity. Seal the edges with either your finger tips or a fork. Brush with egg wash and prick some holes on the top pie pastry for ventilation.
   
4. 
5. Bake in the preheated oven of 180C for 10 to 12 minutes till the pie crust is golden brown. Remove from oven to cool before serving.

This is such a nice comfort food to enjoy at home with your family over the weekend. Highly recommended if you like pastry pies and savory dishes. :) I know my parents, especially my mum had a wonderful lunch eating this yummy chicken pies from me. ;)

A picture of the flaky pie crust with the yummy chicken filling. Hope you folks will give this a try...definitely will become a family's favorite comfort food. :) 

Have a great week ahead all! Cheers!

Orange Swiss Roll with Rich Chocolate Cream & A bundle Joy

It's already the beginning of May and loads of things seems to be going on in this month. First is the Singapore Election that will be held this Saturday. Everyone is talking about it; on newspapers, radio shows, blogs and also FaceBook. Very happening now with rallies to attend and hearing the views from the nominated candidates. Also reviewing what Singapore's potential future leaders need to embark on and how it will directly affect us. I just sincerely hope whatever the result may be, it'll be for the best, be it for the people or the country.

Going on as well is the mid term exams with the kids. It is stress time both for parents and children. But looking on the bright side, there seems to be a continuous string of long weekends for the children to do their revision. :) Anyway, I wish everyone best of luck for their papers!

On the lighter side of things, yesterday I manage to bake a Swiss roll cake for a friend. I believe most of you knows who she is, its Grace from Kitchen Corner. She has been pretty busy lately and couldn't be with us much in the blog sphere. Why? Hope over to her blog and you'll know. :) Grace and I have been talking about meeting up for the past month. But since we were rather busy with our own stuff, we had to postpone the meet up until today. Wanted to bake more but only managed to churn out a simple Orange Swiss Roll with Rich Chocolate Cream cake for her.

The initial plan was to make a much nicer pattern then just simple chocolate hearts on the Swiss roll. But since I had to prep for dinner, I just went with the easy way. *sorry Grace* Hopefully she & her hubby will enjoy this simple desert. Interested in the recipe? Here it is:

Ingredients for Orange Chiffon Cake (makes a 10" by 14" tray):

Egg yolk mixture:

4 egg yolks

30g sugar

1/2 tsp orange essence (optional)

75ml freshly squeezed orange juice

80ml water

Zest of 1 naval orange

60g cake flour

60g plain flour

80ml vegetable oil

Egg white mixture:

4 egg whites

94g caster sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Decorations:

50g semisweet chocolate (I used Valrohna with 65% cocoa), melted and cooled

Filing:
80g semisweet chocolate, chopped small

50g salted butter

120ml non dairy whipping cream

Melt the chocolate and butter in double boiler and let cool slightly. Then as the whipping cream is being whipped in the mixer and almost reaching stiff peaks, gradually pour the chocolate butter mixture in. Continue to whip till mixture is well combined. Chill it till needed.

For detail steps on the Swiss roll method, please refer to my previous post on Pikachu Mango Swiss Roll. Thanks!

I was a little disappointed with the chocolate hearts as it looks kind of messy on the roll. :P But luckily the cake still taste pretty nice, soft orange flavored cake with rich chocolaty cream. Yummy combo. :)

While I was at Grace's place, I got to meet the new addition of her family. Believe me when I say I am totally charmed by him! He is such a beautiful little baby. He has such big bright eyes with cute little dimples on his cheeks and always generous with his smiles. :) He is really a bundle of joy! I'm so sure he's gonna be a girl-magnet next time, lol! Think I will pay Grace a visit again soon...see what I mean?! Lol!

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers #7 - Chocolate Delight (May 2011) hosted by DG from Tested and Tasted. Thanks for hosting this month Doris!

Hopefully I will have time to post up a tart recipe that I've been "dying" to try soon.

Okay, hope you all have a nice week. Cheerio!