torta salata "nella pentola" con pollo / chicken pot pie revisited

"antique" pot pie (partially cut)

This is my first experience with pot pies. As far as I know, we don't have a name for it in Italian: torta salata nella pentola is the literal translation (pentola is Italian for pot). For my rendition, I used a small soufflé dish.

This pot pie was inspired by Susan The Well-Seasoned Cook, who after Thanksgiving suggested to use leftover turkey to make a pot pie. There was no turkey on our table on Thanksgiving: I cooked other dishes, a story for another day. I called my pot pie "revisited" because I honestly wasn't very attracted by the concept of pot pie until Susan's suggestion made me revisit my attitude — and with good results!

But her suggestion immediately sparked the idea of turning leftovers into something new and appetizing. Here is what I used:

• leftover roast chicken (pollo arrosto), mostly breast, diced
• leftover zimino di fagioli
• some "alternative" puff pastry (pasta sfoglia "alternativa")

I basically assembled the ingredients and put the result in the oven.

zimino di fagioli

Leftover zimino di fagioli + leftover roast chicken =

= the pie filling

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Take a 4 1/2-inch soufflé dish and add leftover zimino di fagioli. Do not overfill the dish.

Add some leftover roast chicken, mostly breast, diced and stir it in.

Take 1/4 of  the amount made by the recipe for "alternative" puff pastry (about 3 oz. / 83 g), roll it and use it to cover the dish, sealing well around the edge. (While I have not tried making the recipe with regular puff pastry, I don't see why it would not work with it.)http://www.typepad.com/site/blogs/6a00d835508b1869e200d8351b280f53ef/post/6a00d835508b1869e2017c3411e8eb970b/edit?saved=e

Make some egg wash: Lightly beat one egg with a tablespoon of water. Apply some egg wash to the puff pastry surface and put the dish in the oven. Bake until the surface is nice and golden (25 minutes or so). Let rest a few minutes before serving. The recipe makes a big portion or two small ones.

I took a number of photos of both pot pies I made when I took them out of the oven, and none of them was good enough. The nicest photo was taken after I had made a small cut on the surface to reveal the filling.

I am submitting this post to the November edition of Monthly Mingle that has Pot Pies as theme. The event was created by Meeta of What's For Lunch, Honey? and is hosted this month by Susan, The Well-Seasoned Cook.

This post contains the roundup of the event.

Click on the button to hear me pronounce the Italian words mentioned in the post:

torta salata "nella pentola" con pollo

or launch the torta salata "nella pentola" con pollo audio file [mp3].

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pot pie, beans, chard, mushrooms, chicken