If anybody really looked closely, they would notice that I have been wearing the same pair of jeans for a week. Ferdinand has a good three inches of wrist between the end of his shirt sleeve and his hand. I can’t shop. I lose my breath just getting close to a clothing store, and shopping on the web is like pulling teeth without any anesthetic. It’s not that I don’t like new clothes–I love new clothes–the truth is I’m cheap and I HAVE NO TIME. I will buy anything that looks like it might have hope, and I dont’ care what it costs. Then I get home, and I think, I could have bought a weeks groceries with this money, and who cares what I’m wearing really? Fine enough for me, but it’s not right that poor Ferd looks like the miniature version of the hulk. I have written it in my calendar to take care of the situation on Thursday. I’m calling the dentist, I’m doing my taxes, and I’m going to buy some clothes for myself and my son. I’m taking my tissues with me, in case I start to cry anywhere along the way. I tell you these things just in case you are wondering how it’s possible that I cook every night. I have a list of mandatory chores a mile long, left undone. My life goes something like this: why make a bed when you can make a turkey pot pie?
Don’t forget what I told you yesterday about turkey pot pie. Get your love shoes on.
In case you haven’t had a chance to roast a bird, you don’t have to in order to get a good Turkey Pot Pie. If you’re good to it, the turkey will be delicious just by gently simmering it with a few “odori”, or basically things that are going to add flavor to the water that the turkey is cooking in. If you want to, you can change the basic ingredient all together and poach some chicken breasts instead of a turkey breast in a lot less time. Whatever kind of bird you are using, get it in a pot with plenty of fresh water and bring it to a boil. Reserve the bird, and throw out the water. Start all over, with fresh water, and this time, along with the turkey or chicken, add an onion, a bay leaf, a carrot, a stalk of celery, a spring of parsley, and whatever else you like to put in there. Simmer this over low heat, uncovered for however long it takes for the meat to be cooked through, or to 150 degrees.
Remove the bird, and allow to cool. In another pan, make a roux of half butter, and half flour, about three Tablespoons of each. Whisk them together over low heat until the flour is cooked, but not brown. Add a pinch of salt, and then a little at a time, add the stock that you made. I like to add the first bit off the heat, until the mixture looks more liquidy than like paste. Turn the fire back on, and add about two cups of stock in total, whisking the whole time to make a slightly thickened sauce. Peel and chop a few carrots, and a few potatotes. I cook the carrots in the strained stock that I have left over with a little SALT added. When the carrots are almost soft, I add the potatoes. Be sure to cut both relatively small so that they don’t take forever to cook.
For the top of the pie you can either make your favorite pie crust, or I like to make biscuits. Just work 6 Tablespoons of cold chopped butter, into 2 cups of flour, half a teaspoon of salt, a Tablespoon of baking powder, and a teaspoon of sugar, with your fingertips. Add about two thirds of a cup of whole milk. Work this around with your hand until you don’t see any more flour.
Pull off the chicken from the bones, and add it to the warming sauce that you made. Get all of this into a baking dish, something like a lasagna pan if you are making a big one, or an 8 inch pan, if you are just making a little one. With a slotted spoon, remove the carrots and potatoes from the stock when they are soft, and add them to the chicken. Throw in a few spoonfuls of frozen peas, and if you need more liquid, just spoon in a little more stock. Gently fold everything together, and drop the biscuit batter on top in lumps. It is important that your oven is hot (400 degrees) and that the sauce is brought back to a simmer before you add the turkey and everything else. This way the biscuits will cook properly. Otherwise, you could always just heat up the turkey mixture in the oven on its own, and bake the biscuits separately on a sheet pan.
Be prepared for random expressions of love.
Just a note, I have no problem shopping for shoes.