Monday, January 22, 2018

"Wreck it Ralph" Chicken and Mushroom Pie #FoodnFlix #SonomaStrong

Our Food n Flix selection this month, Wreck it Ralph was chosen by my friend, Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures.  You should stop by Amy's Invitation Post.  You will learn all about why she chose this movie and how to go about joining us in creating a recipe inspired by it.

You can also learn more about our group and learn what movies we will be watching this year by going to the FoodnFlix home page.


I had never heard of this movie before.  It was released in 2013 and not having any children of an age during that time that would have wanted to see it, I was oblivious.  I had never heard of the game nor had I heard of Hero's Duty or Sugar Crush.  I'm not sure that they are real games but since they had Qbert, Pac Man and Mario, games that my children were of age to play, I'm imagining that they are.

The movie is about Wreck it Ralph who is the counter part to Fix it Felix.  As you can imagine, Ralph wrecks your game and Felix fixes it giving you a higher score.  Everyone loves Felix and dreads when Ralph appears....Ralph is pretty tired of being the fall guy so he escapes and begins traveling through the other games in the arcade.

There is food, albeit mostly junk food.  Right at the start, Felix is holding a pie and then he gets pies for others.  There is a heart taken from a Zombie and I briefly considered making a beef heart stew.  There is coffee served at a Bad Anon meeting that Ralph attends.  Cherries from the PacMan game. Turtles, a bar with cocktails,  an Appetizer buffet containing shrimp and cake.  There is root beer and mushrooms from one of the games.  I also saw a Subway, eggs, chocolate, sprinkles, cotton candy, sundaes, frosting, candy canes, lollipops, gumdrops, gumballs, etc. etc. etc.....

As I said....lots of food, mostly junk.  I took my inspiration from the pies I saw at the beginning of the movie and from the mushrooms running around.  I decided to make a Mushroom Pie.



Then I decided to have mercy on my Carnivore husband and add chicken  to it.  I used skinless boneless chicken thighs, shitake mushrooms and puff pastry.  It was decadent and delicious.


Earlier this month, another group to which I belong, held an event featuring Sonoma Wines in an effort to help those affected by the wildfires in the area.  You can read more about it in my Celebrating Sonoma post.  As part of that effort, Balletto Vineyards, sent each of us two bottles of their wine as samples.  I opened the bottle of Pinot Noir to pair with this recipe.

Full disclosure compels me to advise you that these wines were given to me free of charge.  I received no monetary compensation and all opinions and ideas in this post are strictly my own.  

I had never had Belletto wines prior to these samples.  I am a California wine kinda girl though.  Given my choice of wines from all over the world, I will normally go for the bottle from California.  I have never had a bad bottle from the Sonoma or Napa area and this wine helped confirm the belief that, with the strict competition and perfect growing conditions, I never will.


A Pinot Noir is a perfect wine to pair with this dish.  The earthiness of the mushrooms and the earthiness of the wine complement each other and tame the richness of this creamy luxurious pie.

You could make individual pies or mini pies and they would have been perfect on that appetizer buffet along with all the other sinful, calorie laden goodies found throughout the movie.  

You still have time to join us this month.  The deadline for FoodnFlix isn't until the 29th.  Why don't you make yourself a pie, pour yourself a bottle of Sonoma wine to help their cause, pop in a copy of Wreck it Ralph and have a fun date night at home?



Chicken and Mushroom Pie

1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into slices
1 T. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
8 oz. shitake mushrooms, slice
salt and pepper to taste
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
1 c. chicken stock
1/2 c. sour cream
1/2 t. dried thyme
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed per package directions
1 egg, beaten with 1 T. water

Heat olive oil in a large skillet, set over med high heat.  Season the chicken with salt and pepper.  Add to the skillet along with the onion and mushrooms, cook and stir until chicken is no longer pink, onion is tender and mushrooms have shrunk and released their juices, 10 minutes or so.

Add the butter to the skillet and allow to melt.  Stir in the flour and a bit more salt and pepper.  Cook and stir until flour incorporates with the butter and coats the ingredients.  Add the chicken stock.  Cook and stir until thickened into gravy, adding additional stock or water if too thick.  Stir in the sour cream and thyme until combined.  Turn into a pie plate.

Roll out the dough and cut into a 10-12" round depending on the size of your pie plate.  Cover the top of the stew with the puffed pastry and seal around the edges.  Brush the top with the egg wash, add any decorative toppings cut from leftover pastry, if desired, and brush again with egg wash.

Bake in a preheated 400* oven for 20-30 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.  Remove from oven and let set for 10 minutes before slicing.  Print Recipe

Amy will be posting a round up of all the Wreck it Ralph inspired recipes after the 29th of February.  I can't wait to see what everyone else makes.

Next month we are watching Guess Who's Coming to Dinner hosted by Evelyne of CulturEatz.








11 comments:

  1. Sounds delicious, Wendy! Perfect with the pinot noir!

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  2. This looks delicious, Wendy...and I like that you were able to pull a savory dish out of this one!

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  3. Great idea and I would have been hard pressed to come up with a savory recipe from this sugar saturated film. Love the recipe, Wendy.

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  4. Love it! This looks amazing Wendy! Thanks for joining in!

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  5. Oh my this looks amazing!! I am definitely going to give this a try

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  6. YES lots of junk food. Would love to try your Chicken and Mushroom Pie. Funny enough I had a vegan pot pie poutine yesterday lol.

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    Replies
    1. Comfort food is necessary with this crazy cold weather we've been having.

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