Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie*

Every year about this time, I get a hankering to make Chicken Pot Pie.  My recipe is not for the faint hearted—not that it’s difficult—just a bit time consuming.  For some people, this is the ultimate comfort food.  I think that’s because it’s a labor of love!  It’s worth the work though, because after a few hours in the kitchen you’ll have several meals in the freezer for your family to enjoy all winter. I devoted some time to this very project last weekend, mixing up my crust and cooking my chicken Friday night, then chopping veggies and making sauce on Saturday morning.  By noon, I had Saturday’s dinner in the fridge ready to bake for my family of three and our two guests, as well as five more pies in the freezer.

(This is a big recipe with quite a few ingredients, so if you’re going to make it, you want enough to eat once then freeze a few extra pies.  This is enough for approximately 25 good servings).

Note:  I usually make up my pie crust the night before, wrap in plastic wrap and place in fridge so it will be ready.  I get it out to bring to room temperature while I’m working on the filling.  Use your favorite pie crust recipe or see my favorite crust recipe below.  You could also use store bought crust or top with homemade or prepared canned biscuits instead of the crust.

Ingredients:

-12 large boneless Chicken Breast halves (or substitute some of the chicken with boneless thighs, which is really tasty), cooked in a cup or two of water in large oblong glass casserole (use two if needed, arranging the pieces in a single layer).  Sprinkle with salt and cover with foil, cooking in oven until done (about an hour at 350—longer if still partially frozen).  Drain broth and save in fridge.  Cool chicken slightly, cut off and discard any little pieces of fat you may see, then dice quite large (I use my electric knife).  Put in fridge.

Start making the sauce . . .

-3 finely chopped onions

-1 ½ lbs. fresh mushrooms, washed and sliced 

-4 or so stalks celery with leaves, diced

-2 cubes of butter (1 cup)

-1 1/3 cup flour

-3 teas. ground Sage

-3/4 teas Black Pepper

-2 teas. salt

-8 cups chicken broth mixture (part of this is your reserved chicken broth (skim and discard any fat off that has hardened on top) plus 5 chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in microwave into ½ cup water, 1 can chicken broth, 1 large or 2 regular sized cans cream of chicken soup, all whisked together.  This should all total out to 8 cups of liquid.  Add extra water to bring it to the 8 cups if needed).

-3 cups milk (If you have it, use 2% for this.  If not, 1% is OK too).

-2 lbs (two 16 oz. bags) of Western Family Frozen Petite Peas, uncooked

-4 lbs. carrots, peeled, sliced, and cooked in salted water, (simmer in water about a third a way up the pan until just tender but don’t overcook.  Drain and set aside.)

-1 large bunch fresh parsley leaves, minced

-2 batches pie crust (See recipe below)

In large heavy bottomed pot, saute onions and celery in the two cubes butter until tender.  Add salt, pepper, and sage.  Whisk in flour gradually and cook stirring about 3 minutes.  This will be very thick. Then start to add broth and milk slowly until it’s all in. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly over medium heat just until thickened.  Add parsley.  Pour this hot mixture over mushrooms in a very large bowl and let cool a few minutes stirring once or twice. The heat will cook the mushrooms enough.  Then add chicken, frozen peas, and carrots. Mix well.

Divide into casseroles or pie tins and top with pie crust that has been rolled out and had some steam holes cut in.  Brush lightly with beaten egg if desired to help make a golden brown crust. This should make about 6 medium sized pies of 4 servings each OR 3 large casseroles which feed about 8 people each.  I use a variety of disposable pie/cake tins or different sizes of glass casseroles or pans.  This time I used Café Rio tins.  Most anything will work fine.

Now either cook right away or refrigerate (no more than 24 hours) . . .  or cover well and freeze.  If frozen, thaw in fridge 24 hours before cooking.

Bake at 375 to 400 until it’s bubbling up out of the crust holes and crust is browned.  How long depends on if it’s just been made and is still warm, or whether it’s been in the fridge or freezer.  If thawed well, it takes about 45 minutes or more, depending on size.  Cover loosely with foil if crust gets too brown before the filling is done.

Pie Crust Recipe:

Put 3 cups flour in mixing bowl.  Do not sift—shake off gently to level.

Mix in ¼ teas. salt and 2 Tablespoons sugar

Measure out 1 ¼ cups Crisco Shortening

Cut the shortening into flour mixture with a pastry cutter/blender until part is like cornmeal and part is like peas.

Beat a large egg in a small bowl with a dinner fork.  Whisk in (with fork) 1 Tablespoon of vinegar and 5 nice full Tablespoons of cold water.

Dump this mixture all at once into the flour/shortening mixture.  Using the fork, quickly stir this together until it starts to glump together in the bowl.  Reach your hands in and shape into a ball, making sure to pick up any loose bits of flour, until the bowl is cleaned out.  Shape gently into a ball, then roll out on a lightly floured surface (flipping over gently and reflouring the counter to keep from sticking) OR wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Note:  The Pot Pie recipe above will take two batches of crust to cover.  Do not double the batch—make it twice and form into two balls.

This recipe can also be used for any kind of pie.  For double crusted fruit pies, sprinkle the top of crust with sugar before baking.

*Originally distributed November 2013