Chicken Pot Pie: The Coziest of Winter Meals
Roll out the flakey pie crust, simmer the vegetables and potatoes in the creamiest of sauces, saute the onion and celery in butter, add in that left over turkey …. put it all together and you have the coziest of winter meals - Chicken Pot Pie!
I call this a weekend meal simply because it does take a bit of time to put it all together. BUT if you take the time, and double the batch, you’ll have home made Chicken (or Turkey!) Pot Pie not only for dinner tonight but also in your freezer for a quick and easy weeknight meal that calls for all the cozy.
Chicken Pot Pie (click here to download the recipe)
*makes two 9 inch pies or 4 personal sized pies
Ingredients:
4 skin on chicken breasts or thighs
4 cups chicken broth
1 tsp fresh thyme - or about 8 sprigs (just the leaves)
4 larger yukon gold potatoes, skin on
2 large carrots
2 celery stalks - diced
1 yellow onion - diced
4 tablespoons butter
½ cup frozen peas
6 sage leaves
3-4 tablespoons of flour to thicken the gravy
Salt & Pepper as needed
1 Flakey Pie Crust Recipe Below Or Click Here
Directions :
Fill a large stock pot with the chicken broth and thyme, add in the chicken with the skin on and bring to a low simmer. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the chicken is pretty well cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pot and allow it to cool so you can handle it. Discard the chicken skin, pull the meat off the bones and roughly chop into bite sized chunks.
While the chicken is simmering, cut the potatoes and carrots into bite sized pieces. Set these aside in a bowl to boil in the broth once the chicken is done.
Dice the onion and celery and set aside. In a large saute pan, melt the butter, then saute the onions and celery until softened - 3-5 minutes.
Once the chicken is out of the broth add in the chopped potatoes and carrots. Bring the chicken stock to a low boil and cook for 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon remove the potatoes and carrots from the broth.
In a large bowl, mix the bite sized and cooked pieces of Chicken, Potatoes, Carrots and Sauteed Onions and Celery, peas and chopped sage.
Bring the chicken broth back to a simmer and sift in 3-4 tablespoons of flour, whisking and simmering until it begins to thicken.
Pour the broth over the chicken, potato mixture. Mix well, taste and add in salt and pepper as needed. This mixture loses a bit of it’s saltiness once wrapped in the crust so lean for a saltier mixture.
Heat the oven to 375.
Roll the pie dough out to about ⅛ inch thickness and lay into pie pans. Ladle the filling mixture into the pies. Keep the broth portion of the filling below the edge of the pie rim (this will help it not to bubble over too much). Put the top crust on, crimping the edges to seal in the filling and juice. Cut vents in the top of the crust and brush with an egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1 tablespoon of water)
Place the pies on a baking sheet and slide into the oven. The baking sheet will catch any drips from the filling.
Bake for 30-50 minutes depending on the size of the pie. The crust will be golden brown!
**The pies freeze well. Once you have the pie fully assembled, wrap in several layers of cellophane and put in the freezer. When you want to cook it allow it to thaw for an hour before putting into the oven. OR you can put it directly from the freezer into the oven but you’ll need to create a foil tent over it to allow it to bake longer and not burn the crust.
When baking straight from the freezer lower the temp to 350 and give it an extra 10-20 minutes for cooking.
***you can get creative with this recipe! It tastes delicious with parsnips, yams or sweet potatoes!
