Dinner and a Movie: Hollow Triumph

Oh my. This stuff was so amazingly yummy. Chicken Pie with Yam Biscuits is another recipe from my 1940s Better Homes and Gardens. While it's baking, it will make your house smell like grandma's. I made a few changes, including making my own chicken-y white sauce instead of using canned cream of chicken soup (ick!). Prior to baking, filling can be refrigerated or frozen. Refrigerate or freeze yam biscuits separately. To cook from refrigerated, place the casserole in the oven while it comes up to temperature then cook as usual.


Chicken Pie with Yam Biscuits

1 cup cooked yam, mashed (about 1 large yam)
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 carrots, cut in small dice
1 onion, chopped
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup chicken stock
1/2 cup milk
2 cups cooked chicken
2 sprigs fresh parsley, leaves chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

To make the yam biscuits: Beat together the yam, melted butter and egg. Gradually mix in the flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside and move on to filling.

In a medium saucpan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the carrots and onion and cook until onion is translucent.

Stir in the flour, salt and pepper and cook a couple of minutes, stirring. Remove pan from heat and stir in chicken stock and milk. Return to the hob and heat on medium until mixture boils, boil one minute, stirring constantly, then reduce heat to low and cook 10 minutes.

Stir in chicken and parsley and pour mixture into a casserole. Drop yam biscuits on top of the filling (I used an ice-cream scoop). Bake in the middle of the oven 35 to 40 minutes, or until biscuits are cooked through.

Serves 4

In case you've overdosed on holiday movies---

Hollow Triumph is a really fantastic film noir about a criminal (Henreid) who botches a robbery and has to go on the run.  He discovers that he has a doppelgänger in a local psychoanalyst and plots to start a new life by becoming him, down to the analyst's facial scar.

As you're reading this, we're headed back to Wichita from an extended Oklahoma City visit. I'll be spending New Year's Eve Eve getting caught up on my blog reading and getting my hands on a bottle of champagne!

Photo sources:
Poster
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