Wandering to Seattle

I took my name 'Wandering Cook' a bit literally this past week and wandered up to visit my older sister Rebekah in Seattle. She needed a ride back up there after Christmas, so I agreed to it as long as I could stay at her place for a few days rather than driving straight there and straight back. (I have the freedom to do those kinds of things now that I have a real grown up job complete with Winter Break.) She would be working during the majority of every day that I would be up there so I would need to find something to keep myself occupied. She just moved very close to downtown so the first day I was there was spent wandering around the city in and out of stores and coffee shops until my legs decided they'd had enough walking. The next day I told her I would make her some dinner that would be ready after she got off work. For Christmas I had received all kinds of new things that my cupboards were lacking, such as a few pie plates, a mini pie mold, a nice bamboo rolling pin, and an awesome silicone pastry mat to roll out pie dough on with measurements printed on it so I can how big of a circle I need to roll out depending on how big my pie pan is. I realize that not everyone  would be as excited to rip the wrapping paper off of a pastry mat on Christmas morning as I was, but anyone that is into baking should definitely own one of these. In lieu of all of my pie baking supplies, we decided chicken pot pie would be a good idea for me to make. We discussed using the mini pie molds, but opted for the 10 inch full pie for the two of us because we knew it wouldn't go uneaten. I learned how to make mini chicken pot pies during "Townie Mom's Pie Class" but had yet to tackle a full sized one. But I figured with my new supplies it would be cake...or pie. (That was a mom joke, but I couldn't resist.)

The downtown city-living was awesome. The views are beautiful, I could walk downtown in 8 minutes, or to Pikes Place in 15, and options for what to eat for lunch are endless. The only downside I could find was the size of the apartment. The kitchen in particular. Here is what I had to work with:

 

Believe it or not, this picture actually makes it look bigger than it actually is. That refrigerator went up to my chin, and to say counter space was lacking was the understatement of the year. You'll also notice no dishwasher, so I was constantly cleaning dishes as I was using them because I had no where else to put them. I made it work though.

I haven't been able to master a pie crust on my own yet. The Thanksgiving apple pie turned out to be somewhat of a disaster that my mom had to come over and fix before I could even roll it out. After that though, I felt pretty confidant that the next one I made would be right since I now knew everything not to do. I used the most basic pie crust recipe in the world (3 C flour, 1 C shortening, 1 t salt and 1 C water). I didn't end up using the full cup of water because I thought the consistency looked about right and I didn't want to over water it, so I wrapped it up and stuck it in the fridge for a few hours while I prepped the filling.

For the filling I did equal parts flour and butter (about a 1/4 C of each) a can of chicken broth, a can of cream of mushroom soup, about 6 yukon gold potatoes diced up, a cup and a half or so of frozen peas and carrots and a whole chicken chopped up. I thought about using a couple of raw chicken breasts and cooking them and following that whole process, but for the same price we could get a whole chicken, already cooked. Considering the kitchen I was using, I thought I deserved to cheat a little on this one aspect.

Here is a snippet into the type of counter space I was working with.

I finished the filling a couple hours before I needed to start baking the pie, so to avoid soggy crust I stuck the filling in a bowl and put that in the fridge along side the pie dough that needed to be rolled out. When the time came, (the time being 11:00 at night after Rebekah was done with work and back home) I started rolling out the pie crust. I was pleasantly surprised with how easily the crust rolled out. It was smooth and elastic and easy to work with. Finally a crust that wasn't crumbling before I even tried to roll it!

Here is the bottom crust rolled out and pressed in the pan. You'll also notice my awesome rolling pin and pastry mat underneath the pie plate. And in case you were wondering where I found the counter space to roll this out, the answer is: I didn't, I cleared off the coffee table in the living room and used that.

Loaded up with the perfect amount of filling

Top crust on - ready to bake!

Finished product

Things were looking and smelling good when it was finished. I wasn't sure how the oven was going to work since it was probably installed in 1954, but I didn't burn the crust or the apartment down so that was a win in my book. We cut into it close to midnight and it turned out even better than I had expected! It came out of the pan cleanly, crust was flaky and the consistency of the filling was spot on. 

Artistic side shot

As an added bonus, I had been busy making a coconut cream pie all day for dessert. It had a coconut gingersnap crust, vanilla coconut custard filling and topped with whipped cream and toasted coconut. Here it is looking like George Washington during the whipped cream process:

We did end up just about finishing both pies by the time I left a few days later, and I learned a couple of things during this trip. One, I can make pie crust by myself now, and two, I appreciate the room in my kitchen so much more after cooking in that pin hole of a kitchen.