Best Chicken Pot Pie EVER!

So it turns out that one of the benefits of living in a place where the summer (truly!!!) doesn’t start until July is that you have longer to cook “winter” food.  And really, I find it much easier to cook winter food, cause in the summer it’s too hot to think about cooking.  I’m sorry to all of you who are roasting in 97 degree heat—it was nice and cool here today, I started my day with hot chocolate, there was  just a hint of warmness in the afternoon when the sun came out for a while, but then it cooled back off again before dinnertime. 

Way back in the early days of my blog I posted a recipe for Easy Chicken Pot Pie.  Today I am here with a recipe that is not easy, but is definitely worth it.  I found it here but adapted some of the proportions to work better for me.  When you have a little extra time this is definitely worth the work—absolutely scrumptious and gets rave reviews from everyone except perhaps the boy who’d rather live on gummy bears.

 

All-Sold Out Pot Pies

Adapted from Rebecca Rather’s “The Pastry Queen”

Feel free to substitute the vegetables in the recipe for diced carrots, fresh corn kernels, diced turnips, sliced celery, cut-up asparagus spears or sliced wild mushrooms. Just add them to the sauté mix and enjoy.

Yield: 6 servings

Filling:
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 medium-size yellow onion, chopped
• 1 large russet potato, peeled and diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 purchased cooked rotisserie chicken or 1 whole stewed chicken, cooled
• 8 ounces fresh green beans, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)
• 1 (8-ounce) package frozen peas (optional)

[I never add bell pepper or mushrooms and always add diced & boiled carrots and steamed broccoli. I also use whatever chicken I have—boiled, baked, etc.]

Sauce:
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (optional)
• Dash of hot pepper sauce, such as Tabasco
• Salt and freshly ground white pepper

Crust:
• 1/2 cup (2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 ounces chilled cream cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
• 1 large egg

1. For the Filling: Melt the butter in a large sauté pan set over medium heat. Add the onion and potato; sauté for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, bell pepper, and mushrooms and sauté about 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Stir in the crushed red pepper and add salt and pepper to taste.
2. While the vegetables are sautéing, skin the chicken, pull the meat off the bones, and shred the meat or cut into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
3. Place the green beans in a microwave-safe bowl, and add enough water to cover. Cover the dish and microwave on high power about 10 minutes, until the beans are tender. Drain thoroughly.
4. Stir the beans, peas, and chicken into the vegetable mixture. Set the filling aside.
5. For the Sauce: Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the flour and whisk until smooth. Whisk in the chicken stock and cook the sauce over medium heat until it thickens to the consistency of a cream soup. Add the cream, hot pepper sauce, and salt and white pepper to taste.
6. Pour the cream sauce over the chicken filling and stir to combine.
7. Place mixture in casserole dish, or fill individual 1 1/4-cup capacity oven-safe bowls three-quarters of the way to the top with the creamed chicken filling.
8. For the Crust: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Cut the butter into 8 pieces. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, pulse the butter and flour until crumbly. Add the cream cheese, salt, and white pepper. Continue pulsing just until the dough forms a ball.
9. Set the dough on a flat surface dusted with flour. Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4-inch thickness. Roll out dough to cover top of casserole dish.  (If making individual pot pies measure the diameter of the pot pie bowls–mine are about 4 inches across–and cut out dough rounds that are 1 1/2 inches larger in diameter.)  Whisk the egg in a small bowl. Lay the dough  on top of the pot pie. (Dough can hang over bowl, though I am not sure what the point of this is.) Brush the dough lightly with the beaten egg. Bake the pies for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Turn on broil for 2-3 minutes if crust isn’t brown enough.  Serve immediately.