When I think about pot pies the first thing that comes to my mind is my childhood memories of eating frozen pot pies from Safeway. I remember my mom would buy a 6 pack of these pot pies that would take about an hour to cook in the oven. The crust would be burnt on the edges and anyone could tell that it was your typical frozen veggies mixed in with machine processed chicken in a high sodium sauce -- yumm...not!
I started to experiment with pot pies about 8 months ago when I was looking to do something with leftovers and my wife was pulling a weekend shift. There is so much you can do with puff pastry and seafood that is quick and easy. What I decided to make one day is a lobster tail pot pie with wild mushroom as a filling and a lobster tail as a center piece.
I found some great 8oz lobster tail at the local QFC for $10 a piece. I believe they were from Thailand. They were quite beautiful!
As you can see in the photo I removed most of the shell of and kept the tail intact. The filling was made with a wild mushroom sauce with morrell, porcini, and cremini mushrooms. I made the mushroom sauce first using a standard roux with flour and butter. I also used shallots, garlic, and green onions as my aromatics.
I cooked the aromatics first with butter, added the mushrooms, and then cooked it down until almost all the liquid was gone. About 3 tablspoon of flour was added until mixed until slightly brown. I then added the rehydrated mushroom liquid and about 2 cups of chicken broth and let that cook for at least 15 minutes until thicken.
I placed the lobster tail in a buttered baking dish and poured the mushroom sauce on top.
Baked the pot pie in the oven for 15 minutes at 400 degrees and here is the end results.
As a side dish I also roasted asparagus with garlic and grated parmesian cheese. 10 times better than your standard Hungry Man Pot Pie :)
