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| Chicken Pot-Pie before cooking |
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| Golden Brown Deliciousness: Pot-Pie after cooking |
So I made this pot-pie last year (obviously before changing my diet) in the winter time. It is the perfect winter food because it is rich and satisfying and warms your cold bones. I took some store-bought help and bought puff pastry. It is easy to use and makes this recipe far less time consuming. I also used a rotisserie chicken (super time-saving tip for busy home cooks). WARNING: This is not a recipe if you are dieting or gluten free or short on time.
Chicken Pot-Pie (Serves 6)
1 Rotisserie Chicken (chicken pulled off the carcass. You need around 4 cups of chicken)
1 Onion diced
2 Carrots diced
1 10-ounce container of mushrooms sliced
1 Cup of Frozen Peas
1 box store bought frozen puff pastry* (must be thawed the night before)
1/2 stick of butter
3 TBLS of flour
4 cups of Chicken Broth (kept HOT or at least warm)
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 sprigs of thyme, picked of leaves and chopped
3 TBLS of EVOO
Salt/Pepper
*Before starting this recipe, remember to thaw out your puff pastry the night before. Also you will need to clean the chicken off of the rotisserie chicken. Chop the chicken. Freeze the carcass for stock if you want.
1) Chop carrots and onion into a small dice; pick thyme leaves and chop
2) Slice Mushrooms
3) Heat up 2 TBL of EVOO in a big heavy bottomed dutch oven (medium heat). Saute mushrooms until soft. Don't be alarmed when the mushrooms soak up all the fat. Just wait and don't add more fat. They release moisture as they cook. Season them to taste when they are finished cooking.
4) When mushrooms are cooked, remove them and set aside. Add the 1/2 stick of butter and 1 TBL of EVOO to the pan and begin cooking the onion and carrot. Saute until soft. Season with salt/pepper.
5) Turn your burner heat down to medium-low. Add the 3 TBLS of flour to the onion, carrot and butter mixture. Whisk constantly. Essentially, you are making a roux* (a roux is a mixture of flour and fat that acts as a thickening agent. They are used frequently in soups, sauces, gravys and in cajun cooking like jambalayas and gumbos).
*It should get thick and become paste-like. Remember to stir the whole time. If it is too thick and not all of the flour is mixed in, just add more fat like EVOO. When you have a paste, add the warm chicken stock to the mixture. Whisk the broth and roux together. Let it simmer for several minutes on low heat until the stock is thickened. If too thick, add more broth, but only in 1/2 cup increments stirring the whole time (There really is no exact science to cooking. Baking is a different story, but using store-bought pastry hardly counts as baking). Turn off the burner. Then add the chicken, peas, mushrooms, thyme and heavy cream. Stir until well mixed. Taste (always taste as you go) and season accordingly. Set aside while you deal with the puff pastry.
6) Flour your counter and unfold the puff pastry, which usually comes folded into a square. Simply and carefully unfold it like you would a piece of paper that is folded it up. It comes in a box and is really easy to use. Lay it flat on the counter. You can roll it with a pin if you want. Honestly, I don't own a rolling pin. I just unfolded it and made sure that there were no visible seams. If a seam existed, I pulled the dough to cover it. It was super easy.
7) Spray or grease your casserole dish
8) Pour chicken mixture in the casserole dish
9) Put pastry dough on top of the chicken mixture. Cut off excess
10) I made designs with the extra (this is optional)
11) Crimp the sides of the dough like making a pie (see picture for what it should look like)
12) Make 3 or 4 slits in the dough to allow steam to release. Season the pastry with salt and pepper
13) Place on a big cookie sheet in case the pot-pie overflows
14) Bake for 45 minutes to one hour at 350 or until the crust is golden
Enjoy this recipe. I remember how yummy it was.
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