Leftover Veggies…What Next?

I had a bunch of leftover veggies – I mean everything from leeks to squash…and I couldn’t quite figure out what to do with what I had left over. It also helped that I had some leftover baked chicken breasts too. Oh…and I had puff pastry in the fridge too. See where I’m going with this? Veggies, leftover chicken, puff pastry – yes – it spells POT PIE!

Don’t get me wrong, I love a good pot pie. But I needed to figure out a way to jazz it up a bit…and well, I think I did okay. I could have done better…but this clearly spells a miss to me. It tasted great – it did. But as you can see, the plating just lacked…inspiration.

I petite diced all the veggies and roasted them in the oven. I made a quick pan cream sauce with garlic, shallots, and milk with a bit of flour mixed in…talk about creamy…without the cream – that was perfect. And the puff pastry…I wish I had more of an imagination, but after working 14 hours and not having eaten in 8 of those – well, I was tired an hungry. All I did was cut them into thin strips and baked them. In retrospect I would have done huge triangles and brushed them with the basil oil that I used as a garnish. You do know what happens, though right? You live…and you learn – lol.

I mean really – there’s no recipe…just a process.

1. roast petite diced veggies after you’ve tossed them in olive oil, salt, and pepper
2. saute a bit of garlic and shallots in olive oil – then add about a cup of milk with a tablespoon of flour mixed in
3. season that – with your faves: ya know, dried herbs, salt, pepper, that sort of thing – you know what you like.
4. In the last minute throw in frozen peas and petite diced chicken

That’s it!

I used basil oil (about 25 basil leaves blended together well with about a half cup of olive oil) as the garnish and those lame thin slices of puff pastry…but you can be as creative as your mind allows.

Here’s the picture!