Pot Pies

Book excerpt: Eighty-five deliciously easy recipes for the quintessential comfort food, updated and dressed up for the twenty-first-century palate. All of us grew up with pot pies--homemade if we were lucky, otherwise store-bought. Either way, we all remember breaking through that flaky, buttery crust to get at the steaming, creamy chicken or beef or vegetables inside. Pot pies are, in fact, the ultimate comfort food, conjuring up images of Mom in the kitchen and a milk-and-cookies kind of world. Now, at the turn of the century, Diane Phillips brings pot pies back into our lives. And like us, they've grown up, developed a sophistication and a range of tastes and styles. But at the same time, they remain just as comforting, soothing, and satisfying as the ones we remember with so much affection. In Pot Pies: Comfort Food Under Cover, you'll find recipes for poultry, meat, seafood, and vegetable pies, with flavors from Asian to French to Italian to Latino, Southwestern, Cajun, and plain old all-American. They may be covered in potatoes, like Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie with Chive Mashed Potato Crust; biscuits, like Mom's Beef Stew Topped with Sage Parmesan Biscuits; noodles, as in Oriental Chicken and Vegetables Topped with Noodle Pancake; cheese (Mediterranean Shrimp Pie with a Feta Crust); or even rice (Zucchini Pie with Parmesan Rice Crust). Whatever the filling or topping, you'll find wonderful, savory flavors peeking out from under an equally tasty cover. Now, at the turn of this century, Diane Phillips brings pot pies back into our lives. And, like us, they've grown up, developed a sophistication and a range of tastes and styles. But at the same time, they remain just ascomforting, soothing, and satisfying as the ones we remember with so much affection. In POT PIES: COMFORT FOOD UNDER COVER, you'll find recipes for poultry, meat, seafood, and vegetarian pies, with flavors from Asian to French to Italian to Latino, Southwestern, Cajun, and plain-old all-American. They may be covered in potatoes, like Old-Fashioned Chicken Pot Pie with Chive Mashed Potato Crust; biscuits, like Mom's Beef Stew Topped with Sage Parmesan Biscuits; noodles, as in Oriental Chicken and Vegetables Topped with Noodle Pancake; cheese (Mediterranean Shrimp Pie with a Feta Crust); or even rice (Zucchini Pie with Parmesan Rice Crust). Whatever the filling or topping, you'll find wonderful, savory flavors peeking out from under an equally tasty cover. -->