Pot Pies: Comfort Food Under Cover (Hardcover)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Diane Phillips lures you into her cookbook with a picture of the perfect pot pie, topped with a lid of golden-brown, flaky crust. Inside this cookbook, though, you'll find that what Phillips offers is not your grandmother's labor-intensive pot pie. Indeed, most of the 75 recipes are suited to the limited time and dietary desires of today's cooks. Her easy-to-assemble fillings emphasize chicken breast, lean meat, and other healthful ingredients, while the toppings can be put together in a snap. About the only old-fashioned thing Phillips keeps in her pot pies is lots of full, intense flavor.

The first recipe, Chicken Bouillabaisse with Rouille Crust, tells it all. The filling consists of boneless thighs simmered with white wine, saffron, tomatoes, and rice. For a crust, you spread toasted slices of French bread with a garlicky red pepper and olive oil purée, set them over the casserole-like filling, and bake until everything is bubbling hot. Reading on, you realize that Phillips sees a pot pie simply as something covered by a layer of something. Ryan's Pie, chicken chunks in thyme-perfumed cream sauce under a puff pastry lid, is as close to classic as she gets. From there, you find such combinations as turkey meatloaf baked under a layer of mashed potatoes enriched with bacon and sour cream, and lean pork, stewed Tuscan-style with red wine and vegetables, served under a polenta crust.

Phillips is so creative in working her idea that you are fascinated even by the delicious-looking results from her most fanciful flights, in which everything from tortillas and risotto to slices of sautéed eggplant, mashed beans, ratatouille, and a blue-cheese custard serve as toppings. Among the least-expected choices are a stir-fry topped with a pancake of pan-crisped noodles, and sautéed fish covered with mango salsa and passed under the broiler. Phillips tells when you can make a dish in steps, and how long each one keeps in the refrigerator and in the freezer. For those concerned about fat, she tells how to substitute leaner choices in place of cheese, cream, and butter. If you like casserole cooking, want to get stimulating variety for basics like boneless chicken, and appreciate the value of one-dish meals, Pot Pies will be a pleasing kitchen companion. --Dana Jacobi

From Publishers Weekly

Convinced that pot pies are the quintessential comfort food, Phillips (The Perfect Mix) has collected 85 recipes that take a new look at an old favorite. While she praises the kind of cooking most baby boomers grew up with, her sophisticated dishes have nothing in common with the frozen pot pies of yesteryear and rely on ingredients from many regional and international cuisines. Phillips offers an abundance of the kind of satisfaction that comes from good eating; however, many of the recipes here are missing the crucial pot-pie ingredient--pie crust. There are biscuits, probably the most traditional option, as well as mashed potatoes, borrowed from the humble shepherd's pie. There are roasted vegetable toppings, cheese and breadcrumbs, mashed beans, tortillas, crispy fried noodles, the ubiquitous polenta and even foccacia. New takes on American regional favorites--from Lobster Pie, which is bathed in a sherry bisque and topped with buttery breadcrumbs, to a Southwestern-inspired chicken pot pie with a tortilla and corn crust--are included, along with French, Mediterranean and Asian selections. It's hard to resist Beef Burgundy with Boursin Potato Cake Crust, Down East Clam Pie with Bacon Biscuit Crust or Snapper Veracruz with Jalape?o Jack Cheese Crust. Phillips offers a flexible outlook and suggests many ways to use leftovers. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Broadway; 1 edition (January 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385494580
• ISBN-13: 978-0385494588
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 7.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #711,023 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #49 in

  Books > Cooking, Food & Wine > Baking > Pies

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Innovative and delicious recipes, May 19, 2000

By A Customer

Although Phillips uses the term "pot pie" loosely, her ideas are creative and the instructions are easy to follow. Also, many of the steps can be made ahead and refrigerated, and then you can put the dish together when you're ready. I've only made two of the recipes so far, but both were excellent. Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie with Chive Mashed Potato Crust was outstanding, pleasing even my conservative father (he declared it "luscious"), and Goat Cheese and Tomato Pie is actually a wonderful focaccia--even my 8-year-old liked it. I'm looking forward to trying a sort of Asian stir-fry that you top with a noodle pancake. This book combines old friends with new adventures--great fun!

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful New Twist on Old Favorites, March 28, 2000

By	"[e-mail]" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

Diane Phillips's Pot Pies are the perfect solution to comfort food that is new and different - and at the same time very familiar and comforting. If you ever get a chance to attend a cooking class with her, DO IT! In addition to observing how easily the recipes go together and tasting how wonderful they are, you'll get tons of variations on each recipe's theme. Like "The Perfect Mix," I know this cookbook will become a standard in my kitchen.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hearty recommendation for hearty meals!, January 24, 2001

By	Carole Shumaik (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

I gave this cookbook to my husband for Christmas. We have made about 5 of the pot pies so far and every one of them has been a hit with our family. My daughters' boyfriends each asked for thirds! The recipes are easy to follow with flexible instructions and ingredients that are easy to find in the cupboard or at the local market. The pot pies all have very different flavors and we look forward to interchanging the various fillings and crusts to make different combinations. These pies are perfect for cold winter evenings (even in San Diego). They warm the heart of the cook and the tummy of the diner!