Chicken & Vegetable Pot Pie

Hi everybody! This is Amy coming at you with this week's pie. 

The idea actually came from my husband. He LOVES chicken pot pie and I've never made it.

One of the things i'm really starting to like about pie is that some pies are more like cooking (with room for experimentation) and less like baking (where chemistry plays a large part in recipe success). With this thought in mind I made up this recipe on the fly....adding seasoning and ingredients and writing it down as we cooked. Result? Success! A creamy, vegetable and chicken pot pie with flaky crust. 

The crust recipe we used was Sylvia's Perfect Pie Crust and it turned out to be exactly enough for four mini pie shells and tops. We made one small pie for each person but you could easily adapt it into one large deep dish pot pie.  

Before starting this recipe make your pastry and line your baking dish with it. Set aside. You will also want to roll out the pastry for the top of your pie. If you want to do quick and easy you can also bake the filling in a dish only topped with pastry or even top and bake with biscuit dough.

  

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp flour
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 cup half and half
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 1/2 large white onion
• 2 tsp chicken boullion
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 1 tsp marjoram
• 1/2 tsp celery salt

• 1/2 cup small broccoli florets steamed
• 1/2 cup corn kernels
• 1/2 cup peas
• 1 cup mushrooms, sauteed
• 1/2 cup carrots, steamed
• 1 chicken breast, cooked or around 2 cups of cubed cooked chicken
• 1 large potato, peeled, cubed and boiled until fork tender

• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk

Method

So I was winging it with this recipe but there are some classic techniques at play. I knew I wanted a thickened sauce for the filling so that called for a roux! 

Preheat your oven to 375.

First off melt your butter in a large saucepan and saute the onion until translucent. Sprinkle the flour over the melted butter and onion and stir with a whisk. Let the flour cook slightly (you don't want it to get brown but you DO want it to lose the raw flour taste). 

Mix your half and half and chicken stock together and start adding it slowly, a few tablespoons at a time, whisking after each addition. If you are doing this right, each addition of liquid will thicken with the flour and incorporate smoothly. If you rush the liquid adding step you will end up with lumps of flour and thin watery broth. Add all of your seasonings to the sauce and simmer until thickened. 

Now, because we were making small individual pies we each customized our fillings. I added the pre-cooked potatoes, chicken and mushrooms to the pan with the sauce and then split the filling into four bowls so we could each add the veggies we wanted. 

We also marked our pies so that we could tell them apart after baking. 

The marking is also important because you need to cut a vent in the top of your pastry to let steam escape. Why not make it cute?! 

If you were not making custom pies just add all of your vegetables to the sauce and fill your pie. 

So fill your prepared pie shell with filling and top with pastry. Cut off excess and use a fork to crimp edges. Cut a slit in the top of pastry to let steam escape. Beat egg and milk together and brush over pastry before baking. 

Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until pastry is golden and filling is hot. Keep a close eye on your pie as it bakes and if you notice the edges getting too brown cover them with tin foil strips.

Let cool slightly before eating as filling was HOT!

Enjoy!