Chicken Pot Pie by Rachel

While I can appreciate a person size pot pie, I think pot pie is a great thing to make family style.  You can really put anything you want in a pot pie, but the most common ingredients that most people would use are probably chicken and veggies.  

Chicken pot pie is a crowd pleaser and really easy to make (don't be intimidated by pie crust)!  If you have a potluck coming up, I would recommend making a pot pie- it's just the kind of food that gives your tummy a nice, warm hug in this cold winter weather.

so crispy and delicious!

I like to make my crust from scratch, but you can use store bought pie crust if you want. 

Crust

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 tbsp cold water

Egg wash

1 egg

1 tbsp water

- Dice the butter up into small cubes.  Mix in the flour and salt with the butter and crumble the flour in with the butter.  The mixture should look like sand with some pebbles in it.  It's okay if there are small morsels of butter left, but they should be smaller than pea size.

- Add in the cold water and knead a few times with your hands just to bring the dough together.

- Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before use.

- Remove from the fridge and roll out to about thickness of a nickel, in the shape of the pan that you will be using for your pot pie.  This recipe makes enough pie crust to cover a 9 inch pie pan, so keep that in mind.

- Place the rolled out crust back in the fridge until you are ready to use it.  You want the butter to re-solidify before it goes in the oven.

Filling

Ingredients

about 1 1/2 lb chicken breast, diced

1 small yellow onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

1 1/2 cup vegetable broth (or chicken broth)

1 tsp dried thyme

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1-2 tsps of salt depending on your broth

1/4 tsp ground black pepper

- Preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

- Cook the chicken fully in a pan and put in a bowl to the side.  

- In a large pot, Add a little oil to a pan and sauté the diced onions for about 5-6 minutes on medium heat.  When you start to see them brown, add in the carrots and celery.  Cook for another 5 minutes and add in the chicken.  

- Let the ingredients cook together for another 2-3 minutes, then add in the vegetable broth and the thyme.  The broth I used didn't have salt, as I like to control the saltiness.

- Let the broth come to a boil, then add the salt.  After the first tsp has dissolved, taste it.  If it needs more salt, add it.  

- Add in the heavy cream and let it boil up again.  Sprinkle the flour into the mixture and stir.  Let the ingredients cook until the broth thickens.  This should happen pretty quickly after you add in the flour.  Add in the black pepper.

- Remove from the heat and scoop the ingredients into your dish.  Don't overfill it as the sauce will bubble up and over creating a mess.  Make sure you leave about 1/2 inch of space from the top of the dish.

-Remove your rolled out crust dough from the fridge and lay it over the dish with the filling making sure that you press the edges down.  You can completely cut off the excess, but I like a little to hang over.

- Cut slits in the top of the crust to allow for the steam to come out of the pie.  Combine the egg and water to make the egg wash and paint all over the top of the crust.

- Place in the oven and bake for about 30-35 minutes, or until the inside is very hot and the crust is a golden brown all over.

- When done, remove from the oven and let cool for about 15-20 minutes before serving as it will be very hot coming out of the oven.

Eat up!  Just looking at these pictures again makes my tummy happy!