On a Cold Winter's Night

The oven is still broken - no time to get a workman here since he only comes during the day when I'm at work - so I improvise. This was dinner last night.

But I love it, so eating a variation each night really isn't a hardship.

But these cold winter nights have me hankering for some comfort food. To me, that says pot pies. Since I can't cook one at the moment, I figured I'd share one of my favorites that I've done before. I'll just pretend I get to eat it!

Salmon Potato Cheddar Pie

I really should call it Cheddar Salmon Cheddar Potato Cheddar Pie.

I'm guessing you figured out the key ingredient. :)

The recipe is one of my creations and it's really simple.

First I boiled potatoes and baked the salmon filets.  (The amount of each would vary according to your preferences. I definitely err on the side of potatoes.)

Sacrilege here - but I used deep dish pre-made pie crusts. This is easy, remember.  Those of you who are pie crust whizzes, feel free to whip up your own. I pre-bake the crust for about ten minutes, just long enough to make sure it won't be soggy.


Now comes the fun part.

A layer of shredded cheddar, a layer of potatoes.

I added in some sweet onion to this layer. It gives it a nice bite.

More cheddar.

I crumbled the salmon on top.

More cheese and potatoes.

I used the Kraft Triple Cheddar shredded cheese.

Place the crust on top. Then, you guessed it - sprinkle more cheese over the crust.  The first time I did this it was because I only had some broken pieces of crust left over and I was trying to fill it up. It was so delicious that it became an official step in the recipe.

Heat for about half an hour or until everything is heated through and the cheese is nice and melty. I took Fenway for a walk during this part and it was the exact right amount of time.

Enjoy!


Last week (I think), Ruthy shared a spectacular sunrise photo. I snared the matching sunset photo today from my classroom window.  So pretty.

A Study in Contrasts

I've mentioned before that my husband and I rarely eat the same dinners. He's a "hamburgers on Monday and Thursday, Chicken on Tuesday, Fish on Friday" kind of guy.

I'm more like whatever inspiration hits.

Rarely do our tastes intercept.

For example, I made this absolutely delicious fish salad dinner last week. He had hamburger. Again.

Or the salmon pie I had while he had chicken pot pie. Note: I used to love chicken pot pie, but I can't eat chicken.

The one dish we do share a taste for is baked rigatoni. I'm not a huge fan of Baked Ziti, but change those baby zitis for big, hunky rigatonis, and I'm right there.

I don't know why except that you can really sink your teeth into rigatoni - especially when cooked al dente.

I also sauteed some spinach with garlic.

I used a simple Barilla sauce, some ground beef, rigatoni, and lots of cheese. It turned out to be sooooo delicious. And I had some leftover for lunch!



















If the salad interests you, I used my Sweeties (remember last year when I discovered them?), some pomegranate arils.

Since there were some questions about how rigatoni compare to ziti, here are comparative photos.

Salmon Potato Cheddar Pie

I mentioned in a previous post that I haven't been feeling the soup love this winter.

But the weather has turned colder, so the yearning for comfort food kicked in.

I turned to one of my favorites.

Salmon Potato Cheddar Pie.

I really should call it Cheddar Salmon Cheddar Potato Cheddar Pie.

I'm guessing you figured out the key ingredient. :)

The recipe is one of my creations and it's really simple.

First I boiled potatoes and baked the salmon filets.  (The amount of each would vary according to your preferences. I definitely err on the side of potatoes.)

Sacrilege here - but I used deep dish pre-made pie crusts. This is easy, remember.  Those of you who are pie crust whizzes, feel free to whip up your own. I pre-bake the crust for about ten minutes, just long enough to make sure it won't be soggy.


Now comes the fun part.

A layer of shredded cheddar, a layer of potatoes.

I added in some sweet onion to this layer. It gives it a nice bite.

More cheddar.

I crumbled the salmon on top.

More cheese and potatoes.

I used the Kraft Triple Cheddar shredded cheese.

Place the crust on top. Then, you guessed it - sprinkle more cheese over the crust.  The first time I did this it was because I only had some broken pieces of crust left over and I was trying to fill it up. It was so delicious that it became an official step in the recipe.

Heat for about half an hour or until everything is heated through and the cheese is nice and melty. I took Fenway for a walk during this part and it was the exact right amount of time.

Enjoy!


My husband is not a fan of salmon so often if I'm making chicken pot pie for him, I'll whip up one of these and then I have lunches for a week.