precursor of tomorrow's Christmas meal

Keto (or almost-keto) pot pie for one:

Just the filling. The keto crust is yet to come.

No peas. Too carby. The carrots are also too carby, but I've included them anyway. Broccoli for greens. Mushrooms, kind of taking the place of potatoes. Dried onions. Sous-vide chicken and diced, pan-fried pork belly. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, sage. The cream is Chef Mike Symon's version* of double cream: gently boil and reduce heavy cream (at medium-high, constantly stirring for about 40 minutes) until it's about half its original volume, thus making it twice as dense, hence double cream (there are actually several versions of "double cream"). 

Still to make tonight:

1. keto pie crust
2. decadent chocolate cake to slice and pass out to workers tomorrow (ho ho ho)

I'll probably eat most of the rest of the cake once I get back to my place, God help me—thus negating the benefits of having keto pie. (I thought about this and seriously considered making regular pie crust.) It's a bad choice given that I have a major doctor's appointment on January 9, including a heart ultrasound to look for further blockages. But I'm too lazy and selfish to deprive myself of Christmas cheer. I'll just have to starve for the rest of December and the beginning of January. Whatever brings the A1c average down.

Right now, though, I need to go shopping because I have no idea whether the grocery will be open tomorrow, on Christmas Day. I have to buy party plates and plastic utensils and napkins for people to be able to eat cake. More tomorrow.

__________

*Making the pot-pie cream this way avoids the whole roux/Béchamel issue. A roux is a combination of equal parts-per-volume of butter and flour; you let those cook together for a bit, then to make the Béchamel, you start gradually adding milk. It'll seize up at first, but as the roux continues to cook, and you continue to add milk, the liquid eventually wins out as you saturate the emulsion to the point where it has no choice but to turn into a creamy mixture. This is Béchamel, one of the five French "mother sauces." For sauce veloutée (lit. "velvety sauce"), use stock instead of milk. A basic velouté is not much different from gravy, and you can definitely take it in a gravy direction. Anyway, regular roux, because it starts with flour, is very carby. Using Michael Symon's method of boiling heavy cream down to make double cream means you avoid putting any flour into your cream sauce.