Size does matter

How soon is soon?? Can't it open today??

 The Le Creuset store in Hyde Park is expanding - they will be taking over the store next door and extending their current store all the way across. We are getting a bigger, better Le Creuset!

 Bigger is better!

 Too much of excitement! Here's hoping they will have a big sale to celebrate the revamp.

Chicken winging it

What to do with a leftover roast chicken?

Okay, HALF a chicken, leftovers rarely make it past lunchtime in a Greek house.

Leftover roast chicken recipe suggestions? Hello NoMU recipe box!

I don't have all these ingredients so we're gonna wing it! Starting with half a chicken not a whole one

Let's double up on the mushrooms to compensate for the chicken

Portobello/portobellini... potato/potatoe right?

1 baby leek or shallot (ya I have no clue what a shallot is either!), why would I buy a packet of leeks and only use 1? What will I do with the rest? No. I'm sure a normal onion will be fine. Winging it!

Yeah I'm still butchering onions, someone teach me!

No I don't know how to chop mushrooms either *sigh* visual nightmare

1 tsp NoMU One for All Grinder.....huh? Well it's too late to look for that now! What on earth could it be? The name is not very descriptive! .........Ah hah!......I know!

Winging it!

Okay maybe that's more than 1 teaspoon, oops!

Starting to look and smell deeelicious

Add sherry.... I don't have sherry....I have white wine!

Winging it

Add sherry and cook until evaporated......I was starting to think the wine was a bad idea because it just wasn't evaporating

But I kept cooking the mixture and eventually it started to look almost as if it was glazed, divine! See, wine is ALWAYS a good idea.

To make the veloute....sorry? Let's backtrack. What the flip is veloute? Nothing on this recipe card gives any indication as to what it might be. Google is my friend

 Okay so I'm making a basic gravy. Got it.


To make the veloute, prepare the chicken stock by stirring 2 tablespoons of Chicken Fond into 1 litre of water

This stuff is awesome. I'm adding all the flavours to my shopping list

 Melt 60g of butter in a saucepan and add the flour

Is there a better way than digging in the butter with a tablespoon and guessing how much it is? It's 2013, why can't we buy butter with size markings on? Now there's a million dollar idea!

I added the flour and was left with a chunky mess. I don't think veloute is supposed to look like this!But let's keep following the recipe and see what happens.

Gradually add the chicken stock. Erm. Houston.

I need to get all of what's in the bigger one into the smaller one. Note to self, switch the saucepans around next time. Hold on, I only need 750ml of the stock. Why did I make 1 litre? Let's take a cup out. A cup is 250ml right?

If you don't have a dinner set like this you're not Greek! Every Greek household has them

*checks the recipe* HA! See I'm not losing my mind. I made a litre because the recipe told me to. The ingredient list says 750ml but the instruction side says 1 litre. NoMU, fail!!

This veloute is supposed to be thick and velvety, mine is a bit clumpy. There is obviously a technique to this. Hey NoMU, a little bit more detail would be appreciated, or maybe a beginners box option.

Added in the chicken and hooooray I finally get to use my flan dish! It's been sitting in it's packet for over a month, oh the shame!

Eish that's a tight fit. If I had a whole chicken this mixture would be overflowing. It's a tad runny for my
 liking and I was tempted to add flour or maizena or something just to make it less watery, but I decided against it, maybe that is just how veloute is supposed to be?

Gently roll out the puff pastry...

 Defrost. FUUUUUCCCCKK! Every time!! Screw it, I don't have time to wait for it to defrost.

Yes my hairdryer is pink, yes I am using my hairdryer to defrost puff pastry. Laugh all you want, I once used my hairdryer to warm up my food (necessity breeds creativity and all that).

It's working!

A couple of minutes later and voila!

Gently roll out the puff pastry

That's a greek rolling pin/ child beater (we see your wooden spoon and raise you an ass whipper). Over a metre long. My mother guilt tripped me into carrying one from Greece all the way to South Africa, via a long transit in Dubai. Carrying, in my hands. What about airport security? My mother is scarier!!

Where's my dish? Let's trim that down

Ready to bake!

Apparently I don't know how to seal edges. This stuff was literally pouring out, the bottom of the oven was a hot veloute mess. I couldn't take it out yet because the middle of the puff pastry was still very much not cooked, yuck.

Pie hole. If there is a better way to test rawness let me know

Aaaand done. Not a picture perfect pie. I need to find a puff-pastry-for-retards recipe.

Still too runny, but after it had cooled down the consistency was perfect, I was worrying for nothing!

Dinner is served. This is a Greek house, we don't wait for food to cool down. It was divine!! All the recipe modifications worked really well, where are those blank recipe cards? Stavvie's Chicken Pie!

Look at that, little ol' me made a chicken pie, and I have the cooking stripes to prove it!

Always on my left hand. Hurt like a motherfluffer!! But I admit I feel kinda cool when someone asks what happened and I can say 'oh it's nothing, I was just baking the most delicious chicken pie you've ever tasted'. It feels like a rite of passage. Yay me!