Melissa loves chicken pot pie. It really is a wonderful comfort food, particularly in chilly weather and can be very easy to make. So here is my recipe.
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Set out a sheet of frozen puff pastry to soften. I use the Pepperidge Farm puff pastry sheets, you can find it in the freezer section near the frozen pie crusts.
Ingredients:
2 large carrots
1 cup chicken broth
3 Tbs. oil
3 Tbs. butter
½ a medium onion
½ cup sliced mushrooms
3 Tbs. flour
½ cup cream
3 cups diced chicken
salt & pepper to taste
Slice the carrots into thin slices and boil in the chicken broth for about 10 minutes. Set aside. In an oven-proof skillet, melt butter and oil. When butter foams, add onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes or so. Add the mushrooms, cook for a minute then sprinkle with flour. When the flour is well-blended, add the cream. After the mixture thickens, add the chicken broth with the carrots removed. Once the broth is blended and the mixture is thick, add the chicken and carrots. Salt and pepper and mix well. Roll out the pastry until it will cover the pan and pinch into place. Make air holes in the top and bake in the oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden and puffy.
I originally got this recipe to use up leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. But during the rest of the year I use rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and strip it. It makes pretty close to 3 cups. I don’t add mushrooms because I don’t like them in pot pie. I also don’t use cream; it isn’t something I usually keep on hand. Instead, I use evaporated non-fat milk; an item I always keep in my pantry. Canned broth is fine too.
I use a 10” cast iron skillet, but it is okay to prepare the filling in a skillet then transfer it to an ovenproof dish and cover it with the crust.
I’ve gotten this meal down to taking less than an hour to prepare. I think if you did everything up to the baking the night before, you could just throw it in the oven the next evening and have dinner ready in about half an hour.
I got this recipe out of the newspaper but have long since lost it, so hopefully I haven’t botched it with my memory.
