Receta Chicken Pot Pie with Fennel and Mushrooms in a Potato Bowl

Yes, you read the title correctly and no, I didn't put the wrong picture up. This is a chicken pot pie. Kind of.

This is the Classic Update to the Classic Chicken Pot Pie. The Classic/Classic Update feature is one of my most favorite sections of Fine Cooking Magazine. They always challenge me, whether with the original classic dish (like the Lemon Icebox Cake which still remains one of the best desserts I've made; ever) or with the update, like this take on the chicken pot pie.

The Chicken Pot Pie with Fennel and Mushrooms in a Potato Bowl was created by Chef David Burke, who owns six restaurants, including ones in New York City and Chicago. It is unusual, unique and definitely the reward for out-of-the-box thinking.

Truthfully, the hardest thing about this recipe is piping the mashed potato bowl, a skill which you can see I definitely do not possess. I didn't have the right tip size either. I will admit it right up front that I only made one bowl. The other servings had a spoonful of mashed potatoes plopped in the middle of the plate with the stew piled on top. Dudette, of course, got to eat the serving with the potato bowl. She didn't mind that it was lopsided, leaked, or any of the other things that were wrong with it.

The amount of time this meal takes is relatively little on the cooking side (15 minutes here for this; 20 minutes there for that kind of thing), but there is a bit of small-dicing and slicing to do.

Before even beginning to cook the chicken thighs (they are seared and then simmered in gravy in a straight-sided skillet) small-dice the vegetables; fennel and carrots, slice the mushrooms and peel the pearl onions. When the thighs are tender, they are removed and the vegetables are added to the gravy to gently cook until tender. It just takes a bit longer to do the small-dicing than it does to do the cooking so it's good to have that head start.

As soon as the vegetables are added to the gravy, put the little carrots in the oven to roast in some olive oil with salt. The potatoes can also go on the stove to boil. It's a bit of a dance, but it can all come together at the same time if done in this order, I promise. While the potatoes boil, the vegetables simmer and the carrots roast, skin the chicken and remove the meat from the bones, shredding it into bite-sized pieces. It'll get put in the gravy with the vegetables as soon as they're cooked, along with a dollop of Dijon mustard.

The cooked potatoes are simply made with warm milk and butter. I didn't need to add any salt since the recipe asked that they be boiled with 4 teaspoons of the stuff. It doesn't over-salt them, but it does flavor them enough to make the potatoes tasty without needing more later

To pull this together, after the potatoes are mashed, put them in a pastry bag with a 1/2" plain tip and pipe the bowl about 3 inches in diameter and 2 inches high. Fill the bowl with the stew and top it with a few of the roasted baby carrots. Garnish it with chopped chives and serve.

As far as which dish we preferred, it's a three-way tie. We all thought this was good so there's no knocking it in any way. Hubby preferred the Classic Chicken Pot Pie. Though he repeatedly said that this version was good; he just liked the other more (read "must have pie crust" between the lines). Dudette liked the updated version more (but not the roasted carrot so much). She downed almost the whole bowl and stopped only because she was full.

I sit on the fence. I really liked them both. A lot. Each has its own pluses. The fennel definitely adds another dimension to this dish, as does searing the chicken and then using the drippings to create the gravy. I thought this version had more flavor, although it was very unique, but there is something about the "comfort" of the classic version with a pie crust that can't be beat. Like I said; on the fence.

I'll definitely make this again and would even consider doing shepherd's pie-like, with the stew on the bottom of a casserole dish and the mashed potatoes spread over the top.