Chicken Pot Pie

The thing I love most about chicken pot pie is having the perfect ratio of a flaky, salty, yummy pie crust to the savory filling…I think this pie recipe nails it – in my humble little opinion. I prefer to make this in individual oven-safe bowls to get the crust to pie ratio even better. But, you can make it in a deep-dish pie dish or a 9×9″ baking dish. The trick is to par-bake the bottom crust first, then add the filling and top it with the rest of the crust. Buy a premade crust or try my crust recipe – which is a very basic and very reliable recipe. Either way, enjoy! And, as always, leave a comment and let me know how yours turns out!

2 cooked, shredded chicken breasts – or the meat from one large rotisserie chicken
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt (to taste – careful, the bouillon will add a lot of saltiness)
Freshly ground black pepper
5 cups chicken stock
2 chicken bouillon cubes or Better Than Bouillon
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups medium-diced carrots
2 cups medium-diced celery
1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups)
2 T each fresh thyme and oregano – or 1 T each dried
1 egg – beaten for egg wash

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions, carrots, and celery over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, onions, carrots, celery, peas, onions and parsley. Mix well.
Divide the pie dough into the bottom of a pan or bowls. Place bottom crust into pans and prick several times with a fork. Bake the bottom crust for 10 minutes. Remove, let cool, then add filling and top with pie crust sealing the edges and pricking with fork or make 1/2″ slices with knife.

Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

As an alternative to the pie crust – use mashed potatoes! You can buy premade mashed potatoes and just cover the pot pies with potatoes. If you make this all in a big 9×13 pan you will need about 4 pre-made pie crusts kind of reshaped to cover the bottom and top of the dish. If you use potatoes, just cover the dish on top and I’d add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese too! Yum!

• 2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 oz/355g) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (8oz/225g) butter, chilled and diced
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup (4floz/115ml) water cold, roughly
• COLD. COLD. COLD….KEEP EVERYTHING COLD!!!

• In a large bowl, combine flour and salt.
• Rub in the cold butter until mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. You can do this by hand or you can use a dough cutter.
• In small dish whisk together the egg and water.
• Pour in most of the liquid (holding some back) and stir until mixture forms a tight ball. You might not need all of the water so add it slowly. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight. (You can keep it in the fridge for 48 hours or freeze for up to 6 weeks)