Mystery Cookbook Club

If “Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas without any presents,” Advent wouldn’t be Advent without at least one SSJ “Cookbook Club.” Today’s the day in which we choose a cookbook, pick out one or more of its recipes, and make them for breakfast, lunch, and/or dinner.

This year, we’re picking out something from the vast array of cookbooks already on our shelves. And we’ll be focusing on making a dish we can make as a double batch, having one for supper and putting one away for the busy days ahead. That means that, today, we will be….

NESTING WITH MARY BERRY

While Mary Berry has many cookbooks to choose from, we are going to cook from an old (likely out of print) cookbook I purchased not long after we got married: Classic Home Cooking, by Merry Berry and Marlena Spieler. Honestly, I didn’t even know who Mary Berry was when I purchased this book. Things only became clear a decade (or more?) later, after we’d watched several seasons of the Great British Bake-Off, and we pulled this t&t off the shelf for yet another browse. What? Mary Berry? The Mary Berry? No wonder the recipes are always foolproof!

And what are we making? With any luck, a double batch of Mary’s classic Chicken Pot Pie, but with a little extra lemon and a dash of brandy, on balance. If we get really lazy, we’ll buy a roll of puff pastry and a store-bought chicken to sub in for the homemade. We’ll have one for supper and freeze one for later in the month, when things get even busier! But, who knows? Perhaps we’ll change it up and try something we’ve never made before!

Don’t have access to this specific cookbook? Try this recipe from another DK pub of hers: Mary Berry’s Chicken Pot Pie. It might be the same one.

Alternatively, choose a cookbook off of your own shelf, close your eyes, flip the pages, and point to a recipe to make today.

Results

I wasn’t sure we were going to end up liking the pot pie as much as we did in the mid-aughts, but that recipe delivered! We did indeed use rotisserie chicken and frozen puff pastry to speed the process along!