Seafood Pot Pie

Manami's Note:

Bubbly warm goodness under a crispy crust. Another one dish wonder from Ina. House Beautiful Magazine, September 2009 edition. I have tasted Ina Garten's Lobster Potpie and it was awesome - so how can you improve on something so delicious but she has!!! "One of my philosphies of cooking is to take a recipe you are totally comfortable making, and then have three variations of it up your sleeve." She also says that "she loves all kinds of potpies -- chicken, lobster, vegetable, plus the one with seafood. 1 process = 4 recipes and you have a whole dinner in one dish that goes from the oven to the table. How easy is that?" I really love the way this lady thinks, creates recipes, cooks with ease and has awesome & lovely dinner parties. :) Rated 5 stars out of 525 reviews. Believe it or not - this recipe has been reworked since I tasted it the first time from her 1999 The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook. This can be served to anyone - it can become a family meal or one for guests! Oops - almost forgot the pastry dough has a 30 minute chilling time - sorry ;) I know - it is once in a lifetime experience!

• Total Time: 2 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 50 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 50 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 4

SEAFOOD

• 1/4 lb unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions (1 large onion)
• 1 cup chopped fennel (we omitted using, personal preference)
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 cups fish stock or 4 cups clam juice
• 1 tablespoon Pernod (we omitted using, personal preference)
• 1/2 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons heavy cream
• 3/4 lb cooked fresh lobster meat
• 1 1/2 cups frozen peas (not "baby" peas)
• 1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions
• 1/2 cup minced flat leaf parsley

PASTRY

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 lb cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/4-1/3 cup ice water
• 1 eggs, beaten with 1 tablespoon water or 1 heavy cream, for egg wash

Directions:

1. FOR THE SEAFOOD:.
2. Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat.
3. Add the chopped onion and fennel and cook for 10 to 15 minutes, until the onions are translucent.
4. Add the flour and cook over low heat for 3 more minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Meanwhile, bring the stock to a simmer in a large saucepan.
6. Add the shrimp and scallops and cook for 2 minutes, just until firm.
7. Remove the seafood to a large bowl with a slotted spoon.
8. Pour 3 cups of stock into a measuring cup and discard the rest.
9. When the flour is cooked in the onion and fennel mixture, slowly add the 3 cups of stock, the Pernod, salt and pepper and simmer for 3 minutes.
10. Stir in the heavy cream.
11. Cut the lobster meat into medium-sized cubes.
12. Add the lobster to the bowl with the seafood, then add the frozen peas, frozen onions, and parsley.
13. Pour the sauce over the mixture and taste for seasoning.
14. Pour into a 9 x 13 x 2 baking dish and refrigerate.
15. FOR THE PASTRY:.
16. Mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
17. Add the butter and pulse 10 times, until the butter is the size of peas.
18. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together.
19. Dump the dough out on a floured surface and knead quickly into a ball.
20. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
21. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375º F.
22. Roll the dough out to fit the baking dish with about a 3/4 inch overlap.
23. Use the egg wash to paint the oitside rim of the dish.
24. Place the dough on the filled baking dish and press it lightly to adhere to the egg wash.
25. Make 4 or 5 slashes in it to allow the steam to escape.
26. Place the dish on a sheet pan lined with parchmen paper and and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

Reviews

[Cook Food Mood]

This was absolutely yummy! Followed the instructions except that I used fish stock, 1 tsp cognac, heavy cream, a little salt and pepper and lotsa bay's seasoning for lobster bisque like flavour. Mixed with a can of crab meat and pour it over the prawns, cream snapper chunks, scallops, peas and sweetcorn. And of course being the lazy gal I am, I used frozen butter puff pastry. Everyone was raving about it when I served this during a dinner last week! :)) Thanks!

[Brown Norway]

I did lots of fiddling with this recipe and it still turned out great. I could not get fennel; so I substituted the same amout of chopped celery and 2 tsp. of fennel seeds. I did not use Pernod either because I didn't have it. Still had a great fennel flavor that was just right and very unique. I forgot the parsley. For seafood I used meat from 3 chix lobsters, 0.5 lb of scallops and 7 large shrimp-which made quite a lot of filling. This recipe doesn't state what type of dish to bake this in. While I assumed it was a pie dish, I was serving this for a dinner party, and didn't want that "messy" look. I used corning dishes that were about 5.5 inches across and 2.5 inches deep to create "individual" pies. With the volume of meat used, I ended up with enough for the 4 corning dishes, and also a shallow 9 inch pie plate (left overs!). The dough is very rubbery, and contracts back on itself when rolled; a bit more challenging than regular pie crust-but cooks up hard and crispy, like a pot pie should be. The dough recipe was enough for the 4 corning dishes with a bit left over. I did not line the dishes with dough. I just filled them with the filling and covered the top with dough. I liked this better. Did the same with the pie. I made these pies up the day of my dinner party, wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated until it about an hour before dinner. Cooked them for only 1 hour (could have been less as tops were a little over done). My oven runs cold, so the recommended 1.5 hours would have been too much. These were delicious and a big hit at my dinner party. The only draw back was the time it took to prep. However I had good luck with doing ahead. I think you could even do this the day before and it would be OK. (in fact I took 2 days before I cooked the "left over" pie and was still OK).

[Chef Bazaz #343028]

I saw her do the Lobster Pie and I can't wait to try this. Thanks so much for posting.