GCC: Menu 30 - Chicken Pot Pie

I think our fellow Raymond is reminiscing a bit his childhood with the options he has given us while hosting this months Gutsy Cook menus.  Not that I mind one bit.  Seriously, who can say no to chicken pot pie?

I usually don’t, specially when I go and order it in any restaurant that has it on the menu.  I have been holding off in making it at home, because it just seems like a long difficult dish to make.

But, I’m going to prove to you how wrong I was on that assumption and tell you that in less than 1 hour you can serve this to your family.  First the recipe is made with puff pastry and not pie crust, so you can just go out to the supermarket and get one of those frozen packages, that are just as good a homemade but without the hours upon hours of preparing it.  And while you are there, stop by your supermarket deli and pick up a roast chicken.

See? The most difficult time consuming part of the recipe is DONE.

The rest is pretty easy too.  This recipe serves 4, but let me tell you, four of us ate it, and we still have left over for a good lunch portion tomorrow for another 3 people.  So I can venture to say that you can stretch it to a serving of six, and if you make them in individual portions, I pretty sure that you can even feed eight. 

As always, I put a spin on mine.  I replaced the onions with leeks, added green beans and peas.  I also added a chicken bouillon cube to my vegetables to give them a bit of flavor. And I could not jut walk away and not add some type of herb to it.  Which was mince fresh parsley leaves.  All in all those I truly believe that those simple changes made this an even better version than the one in the book.

CHICKEN POT PIE
Adapted from The Kitchen bible 

• 2 ½ cups of hot chicken stock
• 3 cups of cooked chicken, cut into bite-size pieces
• 3 tablespoons olive oil 
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes 
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter 
• 1 leek, chopped
• 2 medium-diced carrots
• 2 celery stalks, thinly sliced
• ½ cup of package frozen peas
• ½  cup of package frozen green beans
• 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon dry mustard 
• 6 tablespoons of heavy cream 
• ¼ cup minced fresh parsley leaves
• 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry
• 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the 1½ of bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and sauté the leek over medium-low heat for 5 to 10 minutes, until translucent. Add the celery, carrots and green beans, season with salt and pepper and the other ½ of the bouillon cube, stir and for about 5 minutes until soften but still crisp-tender.  Sprinkle the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick, then add the mustard. Taste, and if needed, season with a bit more salt and cracked pepper.  Add the heavy cream, stir a bit more and then add the cubed chicken, peas and parsley. Mix well.   Remove from the heat and pour into a pie dish or individual baking ramekins.

Prehat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until about 1/8-inch thick.  Cut out a round (if using the pie dish) slightly larger than the pie dish.  Brush the rim of the dish with water and then position the pastry over the filing, and fold over the excess pastry so the dough is double thick around the circumference of the pan.  Crimp the pastry, glaze the top with the beaten egg wash and cut some small holes in the top.

Place the pie on a baking sheet, and bake for 25 minutes or until the pastry is puffed and golden, and the filing is hot.  Let it cool for a few minutes before serving.

Verdicts

Everyone loved it, it was perfectly creamy and every bite had flavor.  The puff pastry gave it the perfect airy crust, not making it super heavy, like it’s piecrust sister could have.  In fact, everyone on the table commented that while it was rich dish, the flaky top was just right and light. This retro 60’s dish was perfect as our Sunday lunch.

Don’t forget to check out our other Gutsy Cooks take on the resurgence of this classic frozen dinner.

Comments

[Vicki B]

Wow, your pictures are fantastic! Looks utterly delicious.

[lola]

Your photos are mouth watering - yummy! I will make this again when I am in the States and have access to the puff pastry, plus it is too warm here for me to make it myself. My grandsons will love it. A beautiful post as always.

[Jenn]

Monica! Beautiful photos. Love the close ups. The puff pastry looks so flaky. And like before, I covet that red ramekin!

[Tammy]

Oh man, now I have to make this. I just didn't get around to it last week, then was thinking I'd do it this week but wanted to do a pie crust because I'm not usually a fan of top on crust on pot pie but I see the puff pastry on top would make it much more light and more appropriate for this time of year. Not sure when I can get it done but want to inspired by your beautiful photos.

[Cynthia]

Love Chicken Pot Pie...that crust looks sooo GOOD! Great pix.