Cooking with SunnyD: Bacon Pot Pie with Cheddar Bay Biscuit Crust, now with recipe

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
146
106
www.neftastic.com
I haven't posted any cooking threads in a very, very long time. Mostly because I just haven't had the time to do so. But tonight, I have a very special one. I was tempted to not post this, because I think by doing so I might actually cause the ATOT universe to a grinding halt.

I bring you the Bacon Pot Pie with Cheddar Bay Biscuit Crust:

cbbaconpotpie.jpg


Yes, a bacon pot pie. Inside of that fabled Cheddar Bay Biscuit type of crust.

The innards are filled with a nice thick stew of potatoes, corn, peas, green beans, and... of course, bacon. The only thing I didn't do is smother the top with a generous layer of cheddar cheese, which would have been the icing on the proverbial cake.

My kids made it disappear rather quickly.

Dare to dream my friends. Dare to dream.

Edit: You want recipe? You got recipe.

So... you all want a recipe eh? So you shall be gifted with such. Remember, I do this out of my love for you guys. Ah, who am I kidding. Most of you will say "Meh, too much effort." Tough shit. You asked for it.

Bacon Pot Pie Filling:
4 cups of vegetable stock
1 cup of chicken stock
2 cups of mixed vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, green beans)
4 celery stalks diced
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
As much bacon as you see fit, already cooked and broken or cut into about 1" pieces.
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 teaspoon of paprika
1/4 teaspoon of marjoram
1/2 teaspoon of parsley
1/3 teaspoon of xanthan gum (yes, I have this stuff in my kitchen, but it's technically optional)
~3 tablespoons of cornstarch
~2 teaspoons of water

Directions:

1. As mentioned, do cook the bacon first.
2. Add everything except the xanthan gum, cornstarch and water to a pot, bring to a slow boil.
3. When the potatoes are just soft:
- Mix in the xanthan gum (if you don't have it, then don't - but I love this stuff as a thickening agent).
- In a cup, mix the cornstarch with enough water to make it the consistency of Elmer's glue, then slowly stir the mixture into the pot until the entire thing starts to thicken. Keep stirring gently until all of the cornstarch is thoroughly mixed in, and remove from heat. It will continue to thicken further as it cools. You may want to stir it occasionally.

Cheddar Bay Biscuit Crust (or at least my close approximation)
~3 cups of baking mix (Bisquick or make your own)
1 cup of milk (Note, I use water instead due to dairy allergies in the house)
~1/3 cup of water
1/2 cup of melted butter
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (Note, I omit due to dairy allergies in the house)
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of parsley
"liberal amount" Old Bay seasoning (~1/2 teaspoon)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F, grease 9" x 9" baking pan
2. Add everything except 1/4 cup of cheese, the melted butter and water in mixing bowl and mix thoroughly until firm. Use water to thin out the dough until it's no longer feathery and fully mixed, but not wet/sticky.
3. Add butter to mixture and knead until completely mixed in. Separate dough into rough halves (more like 2/3, 1/3 - give or take a little). Press the larger portion into the baking pan, lining the bottom and sides all the way to the rim. Press out the corners to move dough to the sides. Pressed dough should be no more than 1/4" thick.
4. Bake in oven for approximately 15 minutes, dough will rise some and may brown a bit.
5. Remove from oven, you may want to press down the corners if they rose too much while baking. You can let it cool for a few minutes to make it easier to work with if needed.
6. Fill with filling to about 1/4" below top edge of shell.
7. Take remaining dough ball and press out to 1/4" flat pie cover to match your dish. Cover the pot pie and press the edges gently. Cut off any overlap and use those pieces to fill in any gaps along the edges if necessary. It doesn't need to be perfect.
8. Put the pot pie into the over for about 15 minutes.
9. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of pot pie, replace in oven for another 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, let stand for about 5-10 minutes or so, then cut into it and serve, or wait a bit longer and eat like you mean it.

I'm sure the fact that the bacon is cooked before it goes into the pot pie will disappoint some of you diehards out there. Unfortunately, with as greasy/fatty as bacon tends to be, the grease would cause the filling just to liquefy under just about any circumstances, especially if you load it with bacon. And I'm not sure what it would do to the crust. Plus uncooked bacon would mean a cook time of about 50 minutes in the oven on top of in the pot, which would mean for one really crispy crust. I cooked the bacon up, then put it in the pot about halfway through the boil to let it get some of the flavor into the mixture without totally ruining the bacon.

All I know is there weren't any complaints at dinner, and I got a couple "When can we have this again"'s from the kids. I assume it must have been good from that.
 
Last edited:

phucheneh

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2012
7,306
5
0
Looks doughy. Post pics of the inside.

(...what she said? No, prolly not...)
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
146
106
www.neftastic.com
Looks doughy. Post pics of the inside.

(...what she said? No, prolly not...)

It wasn't terribly doughy - just in the corners of the pan was where it was thick. The rest was mostly between 1/4"-3/8" thick at best.

I didn't have a chance to grab a pic of the inside, I took that one right when it came out of the oven. I let it rest for a bit to cool off before cutting into it, but it was already late and the kids were annoying the hell out of me about food so I forgot to grab a second pic as I was dishing it up.

That sounds like it might actually be really good....was it?

The kids made it disappear rather quickly. I wouldn't personally know... there wasn't any left for me. :(
 
Feb 25, 2011
16,967
1,598
126
Sounds good.

I just made some ground meat cow with pine nuts and green stuff. (Peas, green beans, and spinach.)

It was meh.
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
146
106
www.neftastic.com
So... you all want a recipe eh? So you shall be gifted with such. Remember, I do this out of my love for you guys. Ah, who am I kidding. Most of you will say "Meh, too much effort." Tough shit. You asked for it.

Bacon Pot Pie Filling:
4 cups of vegetable stock
1 cup of chicken stock
2 cups of mixed vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, green beans)
4 celery stalks diced
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
As much bacon as you see fit, already cooked and broken or cut into about 1" pieces.
1 tablespoon of butter
1 teaspoon of salt
1/8 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 teaspoon of paprika
1/4 teaspoon of marjoram
1/2 teaspoon of parsley
1/3 teaspoon of xanthan gum (yes, I have this stuff in my kitchen, but it's technically optional)
~3 tablespoons of cornstarch
~2 teaspoons of water

Directions:

1. As mentioned, do cook the bacon first.
2. Add everything except the xanthan gum, cornstarch and water to a pot, bring to a slow boil.
3. When the potatoes are just soft:
- Mix in the xanthan gum (if you don't have it, then don't - but I love this stuff as a thickening agent).
- In a cup, mix the cornstarch with enough water to make it the consistency of Elmer's glue, then slowly stir the mixture into the pot until the entire thing starts to thicken. Keep stirring gently until all of the cornstarch is thoroughly mixed in, and remove from heat. It will continue to thicken further as it cools. You may want to stir it occasionally.

Cheddar Bay Biscuit Crust (or at least my close approximation)
~3 1/2 cups of baking mix (Bisquick or make your own)
1 cup of milk (Note, I use water instead due to dairy allergies in the house)
~1/3 cup of water
1/2 cup of melted butter
1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (Note, I omit due to dairy allergies in the house)
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of onion powder
1 tablespoon of parsley
"liberal amount" Old Bay seasoning (~1/2 teaspoon)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F, grease 9" x 9" baking pan
2. Add everything except 1/4 cup of cheese, the melted butter and water in mixing bowl and mix thoroughly until firm. Use water to thin out the dough until it's no longer feathery and fully mixed, but not wet/sticky.
3. Add butter to mixture and knead until completely mixed in. Separate dough into rough halves (more like 2/3, 1/3 - give or take a little). Press the larger portion into the baking pan, lining the bottom and sides all the way to the rim. Press out the corners to move dough to the sides. Pressed dough should be no more than 1/4" thick.
4. Bake in oven for approximately 15 minutes, dough will rise some and may brown a bit.
5. Remove from oven, you may want to press down the corners if they rose too much while baking. You can let it cool for a few minutes to make it easier to work with if needed.
6. Fill with filling to about 1/4" below top edge of shell.
7. Take remaining dough ball and press out to 1/4" flat pie cover to match your dish. Cover the pot pie and press the edges gently. Cut off any overlap and use those pieces to fill in any gaps along the edges if necessary. It doesn't need to be perfect.
8. Put the pot pie into the over for about 15 minutes.
9. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top of pot pie, replace in oven for another 5 minutes.

Remove from oven, let stand for about 5-10 minutes or so, then cut into it and serve, or wait a bit longer and eat like you mean it.

I'm sure the fact that the bacon is cooked before it goes into the pot pie will disappoint some of you diehards out there. Unfortunately, with as greasy/fatty as bacon tends to be, the grease would cause the filling just to liquefy under just about any circumstances, especially if you load it with bacon. And I'm not sure what it would do to the crust. Plus uncooked bacon would mean a cook time of about 50 minutes in the oven on top of in the pot, which would mean for one really crispy crust. I cooked the bacon up, then put it in the pot about halfway through the boil to let it get some of the flavor into the mixture without totally ruining the bacon.

All I know is there weren't any complaints at dinner, and I got a couple "When can we have this again"'s from the kids. I assume it must have been good from that.
 
Last edited:

OutHouse

Lifer
Jun 5, 2000
36,410
616
126
xanthan gum ??

i have never in my life seen this listed in a recipe. what what does it add to the dish other than a thickening agent?
 
Last edited:

Jaepheth

Platinum Member
Apr 29, 2006
2,572
25
91
xanthan gum ??

i have never in my life seen this listed in a recipe. what what does it add to the dish other than a thickening agent?

It's usually a binder to hold stuff together. You typically see it in vegan recipes where you can't use egg, or in gluten free recipes where you need to make rice flour behave more like regular flour.
 
Last edited:

monkeydelmagico

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2011
3,961
145
106
looks good thank you for posting. I might give it a try. Curious about the xantham gum gonna have to do a bit of research on that. Might not have marjorim in the cupboard either..... deal breaker?
 

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
Jan 2, 2001
32,674
146
106
www.neftastic.com
looks good thank you for posting. I might give it a try. Curious about the xantham gum gonna have to do a bit of research on that. Might not have marjorim in the cupboard either..... deal breaker?

Nope. It's one of those "scour your cupboards and throw in whatever you might think tastes good to your palate" seasonings. To be honest, it can be omitted safely, probably for the better especially with bacon.

It's usually a binder to hold stuff together. You typically see it in vegan recipes where you can't use egg, or in gluten free recipes where you need to make rice flour behave more like regular flour.

Xanthan gum also works better for binding "hot" stuff. When cornstarch is in a hot liquid it thickens it a bit, but not nearly as much as when it starts cooling down. When you put the two together, it seems to hold together a good bit more. The other benefit of xanthan gum is that it also is "slippery", so even though it binds a bit, it still leaves things that are supposed to have a somewhat liquid texture rather smooth rather than clumpy. It's handy when you want to tighten up a soup or something just a little bit to give it just a little weight, but not thicken it like a gravy. Just add a pinch and you're done.
 
Last edited:

KeithTalent

Elite Member | Administrator | No Lifer
Administrator
Nov 30, 2005
50,231
118
116
Sounds good SD, but I can't give a final ruling without seeing the guts.

KT