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Learn to COOK - Pot Pies: Yumminess in a Dish

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List Price: $18.95
Our Price: $18.95
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Chronicle Books
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Average Customer Rating:     

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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 641.824 EAN: 9780811851619 ISBN: 0811851613 Label: Chronicle Books Manufacturer: Chronicle Books Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 132 Publication Date: 2006-12-21 Publisher: Chronicle Books Studio: Chronicle Books
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Editorial Reviews:
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With succulent fillings under their golden toppings, it's no wonder that potpies have such a universal appeal. Author Elinor Klivans offers a huge range of filling options from vegetables and eggs to meats, chicken, or fish. And the variety of toppings is a real eye-opener: homemade crusts; story-bought phyllo or puff pastry; tortillas; quick-mixing corn bread or biscuits; even nuts, potatoes, or bread. These 50 recipes go from classics like beef and vegetable potpie or everyone's favorite chicken pot pie, to new takes like the Breakfast Special Potpie: Eggs, bacon, and potatoes with an Irish soda bread crust is a great new option for brunch. Also included are plenty of meatless versions, such as the sublime Spinach, Ricotta, and Parmesan Potpie topped with a delicious cream cheese crust. Advice about assembling and baking potpies assures that all parts of the fillings will be cooked just right and toppings will stand at crispy and proud attention. With useful ideas for do-ahead preparation, storing, freezing, and re-heating, there's nothing like Potpies.
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:      Summary: If you Love Pot Pies you Need this Book Comment: "Pot Pies: Yumminess in a Dish" by Elinor Klivans and Scott Peterson is one of the most interesting cook books I have come across. We love pot pies in our house. Now we have a great variety of pies and variations to pick and choose from. This is quite a fun book.
Customer Rating:      Summary: not so excited about this one Comment: I checked out this book from the library and am glad that I did before buying. It was definitely not what I was expecting. The author takes quite a bit of liberty with the definition of pot pie. If anything, I felt that most of the recipes constituted a gratin more than a pot pie. I was looking for more stew-type fillings under a crust, and don't really consider chicken and dumplings to be a pot pie. I have not tried any of the recipes so I cannot attest to the quality of those. Frankly, I have no interest in trying any of the recipes out as they were not what I was looking for. If you are looking for contemporary takes on pot pies, this book is probably what you are looking for.
Customer Rating:      Summary: Delightful book Comment: What's good: There is much to love about this cookbook with recipes such as "Costa Rican Spicy Picadillo & Plantain Potpie," "Farmer's Market Chicken Potpie" and "Roasted Tomato, Onion & Potato Potpie with Parmesan Crust." Our favorites are the "Empanada Potpie with Cream Cheese Crust" (pictured on site), the "Chilaquiles Potpie" and the "Springtime Vegetable Potpie," though there are certainly others that tickled our fancy. Klivans' instructions are easy to follow, which was a relief since before getting this book I had never made a potpie before. In addition to forty-six individual potpie recipes she also includes three delicious recipes for rolled crusts, as well as sections about equipment, technique and how to store potpies. After the recipes, one of the best things about this book is how easy it is to use. Most recipes are accompanied by tips for variations, make-ahead suggestions and crust options. Colored tabs on the side of the page indicate how many servings the recipe makes and how long it takes from start to finish. I thought this last bit was especially useful because you don't have to read through the entire recipe to find out if it's doable in the amount of time you have. Although a paperback, the book is well-bound and most of the recipes are accompanied by mouth watering photographs. Chapters include "Ten Especially Easy Potpies," "A World of Potpie Classics," "New Takes on Potpies" and "A Garden of Vegetable Potpies for Every Season." It's almost needless to say, but there is something in this book for everyone.
What's bad: This isn't "bad" per-se, but on a few occasions I'd read a recipe and think: "What? That's not a potpie!" The "Chilaquiles Potpie" mentioned above falls into this category, since both my mother and Nana always made chilaquiles the traditional way: in a skillet on the stove top. I couldn't help thinking that just because Klivans moved the ingredients over to a casserole dish, then baked them in the oven, the chilaquiles still weren't "really" a potpie. Also, and this is my being nitpicky, I didn't like how she doesn't lightly fry the tortillas before adding them to the sauce, which to my mind is absolutely essential because it prevents the tortillas from getting mushy. Nevertheless, I gave this recipe a go - frying the tortillas, of course - and the result was delicious. The same can be said for the recipe featured in this entry (see site), which is another example of a Mexican dish being taken out of its original context and remade into something altogether different, yet highly enjoyable.
Conclusion: If you like potpies and want to introduce your taste buds to something other than plain old "Chicken Potpie" definitely check this book out - but fry your tortillas!
Customer Rating:      Summary: Great recipes but don't believe the portion sizes Comment: We've tried 4 or 5 of the recipes in this book in the past month, and they're mostly easy to make (though some are more time-consuming than others--these aren't "get home from work, eat dinner in an hour" recipes) and yes, very yummy. However, in every case I've found the suggested number of servings to be way off. Unless you are having the pot pie as an appetizer, or along with two or three side dishes (I don't--to me a pot pie should be the whole meal), count on getting about half the meals out of a single recipe as the recipe indicates. As long as you've got that expectation, this is a great book for weekend fun in the kitchen!
Customer Rating:      Summary: another winner by klivans Comment: I have been a fan of all of her books and this one is great! Have made several recipes - and all delicious. easy to follow instructions, substitution suggestions and lots of photos.
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