Ingredients: Had to wait a week or two for fennel to return to the gourmet grocery store, and didn't even bother with pearl onions, as I have never seen them.
Assistance from Gigi: Thought I was going to do this one all by myself since Gigi was out with the kids, but then she returned, so she chopped the carrots, squash and asparagus.
Like I just noted, I'm a little late on this because they didn't have fennel at the market. Now, due to my tardiness, I had the opportunity to read lots of other Barefoot Bloggers posts on this dish (compliments of Deb at Kahakai Kitchen). Here is a very general summary of what people said: "I cut the butter," "I used premade pie crust," "I left out of the fennel," "I used different vegetables," and, most commonly noted, "I left out the Pernod."
I began to feel sorry for the ingredients of Ina's Pot Pie, and vowed (to my mom, who is visiting from the US, by the way) to make this as true to the original recipe as I could. Yes, that IS the sound of me patting myself on the back. I wasn't perfect, but I tried.
Here are the changes I made: okay, I admit it 12 tablespoons of butter is crazy, so I cut it down to 8; just like with the risotto from earlier this month, I still can't get butternut squash, so I used acorn squash; I haven't ever seen pearl onions here, and I just wasn't in the mood to go searching (I'm pretty certain I would not have found them), so, inspired by another blogger, I left these out; and finally, also inspired by someone who blazed the vegetable pot pie trail, I added peas. I agree, it's just not pot pie without peas. Oh, I guess this is important to note, too: I did not want to spend $20 for a bottle of Pernod, but I was willing to spend $10 on bottle of Pastis. It was anise flavored, so I'm still patting myself on the back. I almost forgot. . .I didn't have oven-proof bowls, so I made this in a 10" pie plate.
Then there was the crust. . .I had a package of puff pastry in the freezer, and I was tempted to use it, but since I had VOWED to follow this recipe, I went ahead and made Ina's recipe, and I am so glad I did. There was a little snafu, since I had decided to halve the recipe for the crust, and failed to halve the amount of butter (uh oh, but remember how I only used 8 of the 12 tablespoons of butter for the onions and fennel? so, I guess it's all even-steven).
So this crust is really spectacular. I'll admit that I am a huge fan of Pillsbury frozen pie crusts (oh, so easy), but that's yet another thing I can't get in Manila. And I'm proud to say that I have made my own pie crusts in the past, so I wasn't venturing into new territory. BUT, I'd never made a pastry crust with baking powder, and I just really like the way this turned out.
The verdict then? As my son would say, "This tastes like yum."
Yes, I am very, very glad that I stayed true to the fennel and the anise liqueur. I usually make pot pies following a Cook's Illustrated recipe, which uses sherry, which is great. But the fennelly-anisey flavor was phenomenal.
I agree with other bloggers that asparagus didn't really go well with the carrots, potatoes and squash, but I didn't exactly mind it, either. Green beans seem more appropriate, but then I thought that I wouldn't really want green beans in my pot pie, so I decided that I'd be okay with asparagus after all. I do think that when I make this again, I won't bother blanching the asparagus. I think an hour in the oven is enough.
And more about the crust. I always want to put biscuits on the top of my pot pie, but I never do. The baking powder in the dough gave just enough of the tang of biscuit flavor that I like. It didn't really have the same texture as a pie crust I would use on a fruit pie (due to the leavening), but it was the perfect crust for pot pie.
Once I've completed the 1,000 hours in the gym that it will require to burn off the fat calories alone, I will make this again.
