Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken_pot_pie
I had a hankering.  Maybe it is from seeing pot pies in every magazine these days so I set out to make one myself.  It was a big hit. 

I made a crust in the morning for a savory dough (no sugar).  I used a Cuisinart to make life easier. 
1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 tsp. kosher salt,  1 and a half sticks unsalted butter cut into small pieces.  Put this in the cuisinart and mix until incorporated.  Then add in 3 T. ice water and pulse.  I ended up using 4T because it needed it.  Then form a ball and wrap in saran and put in the refrigerator until you need to use it.

Pie ingredients:

2 whole boneless chicken breasts
2 cups chicken broth
1 spanish onion chopped
3 medium carrots cut in half and sliced into 1/4" pieces
2 small celery ribs cut into half and sliced into 1/4" pieces
3/4 cup frozen corn
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 box of crimini mushrooms
4 T. unsalted butter
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3 T. dry sherry

Salt and pepper the chicken and put in a small roasted pan and pour the chicken broth over it.  Roast in the oven, covered in tin foil for about 15 minutes at 400.  Cook just until done literally almost done or it will too chewy later on.

In a large frying pan, heat about 3 T. vegetable oil.  Add the onions, carrot and celery and saute for about 5 minutes or until soft.  Then add in the mushrooms.  BTW, you can add more mushrooms or no mushrooms.  It is one of those recipes that you can take liberties based on what you want in your pie.

Take the vegetables and put into a large baking dish.  You can see what I used from the photo.  If I had to do it over again I’d probably put this all in a large bowl to make the mix and then put amounts into individual small souffle dishes for individual pies but I don’t have large enough singular dishes.

Take out the chicken, set the chicken broth aside and chop and add to the veggies.

In the now empty frying pan, add the butter and melt.  When the foaming stops, add in the flour and mix.  Now add in the remaining chicken broth and whisk.  Add in the milk and whisk more.  The mixture should start to get thick.  Don’t  freak if the flour gets a little clumpy. Just continue to whisk and the clumps will just stick to the pot when you pour the mixture over the veggies and chicken. 

Add salt and pepper for taste.  Now add the sherry.

Pour this mixture over the veggies and chicken.  Add in the peas and corn.

Roll out your pastry and lay it over the mixture. 

Bake for about 30 minutes at 400 or until golden.

Serve