Who could resist?
Pot pies seem to me to be the most universally appealing of comfort foods.
What guest wouldn't love to arrive after a long, dark drive on a winding road to find a small pie waiting just for them?
Especially if they were to find a real delight underneath that flaky, buttery crust: Boeuf Bourguignon.
The truth is, we make all kinds of pot pies around here. But since Boeuf Bourguignon is one of our favorite winter dinners, it's no surprise that it's also the core ingredient to our favorite pot pie.
Pot pies raise all kinds of issues? To vent or not to vent.
Normally, I'm a venting kind of gal when it comes to these things so that the filling becomes a rich and thick plateful of comfort.
With Boeuf Bourguignon Pot Pie, though, I tend to skip the venting and let the pie crust raise itself until little bits of the sauce start to seep through to the surface.
Why?
Because the Fabulous Frenchie just loves that sauce, in its onsolid form, perfect for dipping up with a bagette, perhaps the most comforting of endings to all comfort foods. Scooped up to the very end, leaving a clean plate and a full belly in its wake.
Which brings us to the other frequent dilemma of the pie creator? Top crust only or bottom crusts, too?
For this particular pot pie, since we like the sauce to stay, well, saucy, top crust only for me. For a pie that thickens itself as it cooks (and vents), nothing feels more luxurious than that first forkful that reveals that, oh yes, there's more crust to come.
Does the crust have to be a buttery crust, a Pâte Brisée? Around here, we have a saying that settles all such disputes. Cook's choice.
And that's really the secret to a perfect pot pie. A filling that is the favorite recipe of the cook and a crust or topping that is the cook's own recipe.
Comfort, after all, is not just for the plate.
It's for the whole heartwarming experience of winter cooking, most especially when the cooking features recipes that bring comfort to the cook as well as the guest.
Pure comfort, all around.
