So I was craving...


 Linda    17 Nov : 20:02

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Chicken Pot Pie – two recipes combined, plus a little ME ;-)

It's been delightfully nice, moderate weather - I mean, in my neck of the woods we should have had at least ONE snowfall by now, but even a couple days ago all I needed was a sweatshirt? When the wind finally kicked up I needed some winter style comfort food! Chicken Pot Pie was at the top of my list.
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Don't ask me why – I haven't made it in years. A whole bunch of Googling and I found two recipes that if put together would make me happy. So that's what I did. I really liked all of the Veggies in this one from Taste of Home. But I also liked the more classic style from Ree Drummond (the Pioneer Woman). Basically, I used the method of Ree's with the ingredients from Taste of Home – I used Pioneer Woman's pie crust recipe (no commercial pie dough in THIS household, unless it's an emergency wink ) AND her choice of heavy cream in the filling...
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I'll tell you right now that I made a MAJOR GOOF! WHEN you make this (or any other version), make your pie crust dough FIRST? I was so excited to get started poaching my chicken et al that it didn't occur to me that my kitchen would be too hot to make a proper pie dough. And trust me – with a stick of butter to each cup of flour, you do NOT want your kitchen too hot! I had to wait an extra day for my lusciousness!!!! Well worth the wait!!! Check out how even when I cheated and used a food processor to combine the butter with the flour, it is remarkably marbled cheesey
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[This photo is darkened a LOT as it is still raw dough - but I wanted you to see all those bits of butter? THAT'S what makes a perfect crust (the blackish spots are the flecks of thyme used in Ree's recipe]
Nitty Gritty: I poached a whole chicken, and after I moved it to a bowl and waited for it to cool a touch, I boiled the diced potato and sliced carrot in the broth. Scooped those out, and after shredding the chicken from the bones threw the bones back into the stock to simmer a bit. Measured out the stock, and yes, I reluctantly added a bouillon cube to enhance the flavor – normally I would have added a bunch of veggies, but, well... Then in the same pot, the onion and celery are sauteed in the butter that was called for, and well, just a dab of bacon grease? Hey – you can make it as healthy as you want. Me, I was looking for “comfort food”! Here's after the flour and seasonings have been added and cooked together a bit -and as the stock gets slowly added back...
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Everything else pretty much gets dumped in.
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[You caught me - YES, I added some crumbled, cooked bacon!]
Stir it all together, add the cream...
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It thickens quite nicely, especially after it cools.
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Okay - my one real complaint? Neither recipe called for mushrooms, and that is quite a shame. I admit I didn't think about shrooms until it was too late in the process? SO - in the search for the umami of my choice, I generously added some Worcestershire sauce, which made my palate very happy.
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I made one 10 inch deep dish pie, and a smaller one that I wrapped well and froze. Both recipes offer guidelines for baking in the future... Good food, delectably tender crust - and another meal ready for the next round! And folks - it's really NOT that complicated wink


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