Chicken pot pie is a hearty, comfort food perfect for the family after a long, cold day of outdoor activities; however, the filling doesn't always have to contain meat from a bird. Ina Garten has a bougie upgrade for this dish that makes it downright luxurious. The Barefoot Contessa adds lobster to her filling, transforming an otherwise common meal into something truly fancy.
Garten is a huge fan of lobster and even adds it to her Cobb salad for a decadent twist , but lobster in a pot pie actually has some French roots. And knowing her penchant for French cooking, it should come as no surprise that the celebrity chef's seafood pot pie mimics the French Homard en Croûte. By swapping out bland chicken for fresh, cooked lobster meat, she creates a savory pie where the protein offers a sweet, briny, tender, and succulent bite.
While the thought of cooking lobster might seem intimidating, it shouldn't. If you are buying fresh lobster for this dish — and you should — depending on where you shop, you can ask the person working the seafood counter if they can steam it. This will save you both time and the hassle of having to break out a pot yourself.
The sauce is key for the pot pie To achieve Garten's perfect crustacean pie, it all starts with the sauce. Per the cookbook author's website , she begins by making a roux. To do so, she sautés chopped fennel and yellow onion in butter to intensify their sweetness before adding the flour and clam or fish stock.
She also uses heavy.
