Chicken Pot Pie

Want a quick lesson in procrastination or is that too much of an oxymoron? 😛 These photos were taken – ahem – two years ago for the ol’ blog but I’m now getting around to posting them and the recipe. #sorrynotsorry

Although, I AM a little sorry to not share this delicious recipe sooner!  I definitely think it’s a keeper, and I hope you like it too.  It was one of the first meals I prepared for my family back in high school, and after some tweaks and a lot of practice, I can share this recipe that I’ve memorized by heart!

But first, some notes:

I fully support making this pot pie into your own.  It’s a great “first” pot pie to try out, and then take time making it into your own family favorite.  Most of the ingredients are “optional” – the version in my cookbook growing up even said it could be made with turkey? lololol – and I work with what I have, and what will make life easier.

Speaking of which, one thing I do that I think not only saves a little money but also enhances the flavor, is that instead of using pre-packaged chicken broth, I make my own while cooking the chicken.  So, simply put 2-3 chicken breasts in a large pot (I usually use the skillet I’ll be using to cook the dish on the stove = fewer dishes to wash = WIN) and cover them with almost 2 cups of water.  Bring the water to a boil, lower to simmer, and cover + cook for about 20-30 minutes, making sure not to overcook the chicken! Dry chicken is no bueno.  Boom, you have your cooked chicken ready to cut into cubes, and you have the 2 cups of chicken broth for making the sauce.

That’s another thing.  If you approach making the sauce as like making a white sauce or gravy, you’ll have great success (read: yum!).  I remember following the recipe back in high school and not quite understanding what it meant by “stir frequently until thickened and bubbly.”  I’m pretty sure I burned the onion-flour-mixture and then had black flecks floating around in my milk-broth soup.  Yuck.

So, you’ll cook the onions in the butter and then sprinkle on the flour & spices and then let it brown like a roux before slowly adding in the milk and chicken broth.  Start on a medium heat and stir stir stir.  It’ll become a beautiful thing and I’m sure there’s chemistry to be learned here but we are interested in good food and high school science is so last decade.  Ahem.

 

Ingredients:

10 oz. bag of frozen peas & carrots (or any other frozen vegetable medly on hand!)
1/4 c. butter
1/2 c. chopped onion (or one small onion, diced)
1/2 tsp sage/marjoram
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/3 c. flour
2 c. chicken broth
3/4 c. milk
3 c. chicken breast, cooked & cubed
1/4 c. diced jarred pimento, drained
1/8 c. chopped fresh parsley
1 recipe for a double-crust pie crust
Not pictured: sage, whoops 😛

Note: Don’t mind the shortening in the picture.  It’s used when making the crust from scratch, but I recently discovered pre-made pie crust (I know!!) and that works just as well.  (And it’s a huge time saver!  All those years wasted kneading out homemade dough!!)

Do your prep work: make up pie crust; cook frozen vegetables according to package directions and drain. Preheat oven to 450-degrees.

Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Add in the onions and stir until “sweating” and they begin to become translucent. Then sprinkle in flour and spices.  Stir until everything comes together and cook for just a minute.

Add in milk and chicken broth, stirring to combine.  Work on dissolving the flour-onion mixture into the liquid, and stir constantly on medium-high heat until sauce is thick and bubbly (about 5-10 minutes).

Once sauce is bubbling, add in drained vegetables, pimento, and chicken.  Turn off heat. Stir to combine, then add parsley (if I don’t have fresh parsley on hand I either use about 1tsp dried parsley flakes, or I just skip it. NOT A BIG DEAL).

Spoon mixture into a 9″ x 13″ baking pan.

Pretty!!  I love colorful food! (and whoops, no parsley)

Cover with pie crust and cut slits in the top for steam to release.

If you don’t have/want/need as much crust, you would be fine with a single-crust recipe too.  Again, all up to you!

Bake in oven for about 15 minutes until the crust is golden brown.  Careful when removing the pot pie from pan, as it’ll be extremely hot!!

Ta da!

This is one of my staples and I love that it’s a one-dish-meal kind of thing.  You have your veggies, your protein, and your starch.  I have made this for several new moms and it freezes well too.  I think it’s an ultimate “comfort food” and hope you enjoy!

Loves,

LL