chicken pot pie

Tomorrow will be the first official day of fall. It’s my favorite season. I love the mild weather, changing of the leaves, fall crops-apples, pears, and squashes, and knowing that we’re a step closer to Christmas, which is my favorite holiday. Today, we had our first rain in a long time. I don’t know about you but I love the scent of rain. As I laid in bed in the morning, listening to the rain and realizing how much I missed it, I knew I wanted to make something hearty for dinner to welcome the changing of the season.

I decided on chicken pot pie. I haven’t made it in a long time and I knew it would hit the spot. I wanted to try a new recipe so after scrolling through countless chicken pot pie recipes, I decided to go with the reliable Ina Garten. I tweaked it a bit, which I do with most (savory) recipes. I always use a recipe as a guideline and add my own touch to it. I ended up halving her recipe since we are only a family of 3, and added more vegetables. I’m not going to lie, it’s definitely more time consuming than I thought it was going to be. Especially, when my 4 year-old was constantly begging me to battle him in his superhero game. I eventually did had to hit the pause button on cooking to put together his Spiderman lego set which took almost as long as putting dinner together…and to which he only played with for two minutes after its the completion (argh). During my jumping back and forth between cooking and battling “iron man”, I completely forgot to add peas to my mixture which I only realized as soon as I put the pie in the oven (another, argh). But I must say, the pot pie came out delicious. And my “iron man” cleaned his whole plate.

Chicken Pot Pie adapted from Ina Garten

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast

1 tablespoons olive oil

1 tsp. dried thyme (use fresh thyme if you have it)

salt and pepper

2 cups chicken stock

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cups yellow onions, chopped

2 stalks of celery, diced small

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 c cup cremini mushrooms, sliced and sautéed

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup heavy cream (I used whole milk since I didn’t have cream)

2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes

2 cups medium-diced potatoes, blanched for 2 minutes

1 cup package frozen peas

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

For the pastry:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced

1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 20 to 30 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have about 3 cups of cubed chicken.

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Divide the dough into 2 discs. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions, celery, and garlic 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 chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add salt and black pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, peas (don’t forget!), and parsley. Mix well.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out the 1 disc of dough large enough to cover 9.5″ pie pan. Transfer the dough into the ungreased pie pan and press down gently to cover the bottom and the sides. Poke holes in the dough with a fork and bake for 10 minutes. Let cool.

Roll out the second disc. Fill the cooled pie shell with the chicken mixture. Cover the mixture with the second dough, crimping the edges. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 4 slits on the top. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot. Let it rest 10 minutes before cutting.