Easy Chicken Pot Pie

I love comfort food, but since I don't usually have time to cook all day, I also love shortcuts.  When I watched Alton Brown make his easy chicken pot pie on Good Eats, I modified it slightly and called it my own.  This dish is incredibly easy, but it tastes great and makes me happy.  Maybe it will do the same for you.  The magic lies in roasted chicken and frozen vegetables, but with some clever steps to add the home-cooked appeal.  Trust me, it's worth it.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie
Recipe adapted from Alton Brown

• 1 3.5 cup bag of frozen peas, carrots, corn, and beans
• 1 to 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth or stock
• 1 cup milk
• 3.5-4 tablespoons flour
• 2 tablespoons dried parsley, or ¼ cup fresh, chopped
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
• 1 store-bought roasted chicken
• 2 pie shells
• 1 egg

Equipment needed: pie pan, parchment paper (optional), small ramekins

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss frozen vegetables with canola oil and spread evenly onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper (for easy cleanup).  Place into oven and cook until golden brown.  Meanwhile, shred the chicken by hand, removing skin and trying not to burn the heck out of yourself like I always do.  If you have enough room in the oven, throw one pie shell into the pie pan, dock it with a fork in a bunch of places, and blind bake the shell for a few minutes so it doesn't get soggy when you put in the filling later.  Only bake it for about 5-10 minutes, until it starts to firm up but before it browns.  If you have pie weights (or even dried beans), feel free to put these in while baking, to guarantee that the crust doesn't bubble up while it's cooking.

Blind bake the lower pie crust so you don't just have mush underneath the pot pie

If you had pie weights, you could have prevented this bubbling.  Notice the fork pricks where we 'docked' it, to help at least somewhat with preventing this.

In a small saucepan, heat the broth and milk, and have it ready.  Meanwhile, in your largest sauté pan heat 1 tablespoon of butter and sweat (cook over low heat, barely letting the butter sizzle) the onion and celery.  Make sure not to brown the vegetables, since you want something more delicate for this.  Add 2 more tablespoons of butter to the celery mix and cook out the water.  Sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes; what you're doing is creating a simple roux (mixture of fat and starch, which will thicken the dish without leading to lumps) without all of the energy this usually requires.  Be careful to not leave this unattended, as it will begin to brown quickly, and you want a light colored / flavored roux.

Sweat the vegetables in what seems like too much butter, then add flour and make a lazy man's roux that will thicken the milk / broth mix

Don't forget about the vegetables!  Give them a shake every once in a while so they brown evenly.  I like parchment to help with cleanup after.

Whisk in the hot milk mixture and cook until thickened.  You may want to do about 75% of this to start, and see how thick it looks before adding the rest.  This shouldn't be too runny, but at the same time I've made it without enough liquid, and it can be too dry and gummy.  So keep adding a little more liquid at a time, and remember this key fact - you won't know how thick the mixture will be until two things happen: the mixture comes to a full boil, and then you cool it slightly to see how it will set up.  You can dip in a spoon and check the nappe - the ability to coat the back without dripping when you drag a finger across, but just on the border of this happening.  French people are inherently awesome with this kind of stuff, so if you can't figure this out, just find anyone from France, and they will do it for you.  That's one of the best terms of the Treaty of Paris after the French and Indian War, although giving us Louisiana was pretty good too.  And remember, the best way to ask someone from France for a favor is to yell at them loudly in English, so that they understand you.

Add the parsley, salt and pepper.  Now, you've been checking on those vegetables in the oven to make sure they're not burnt, right?  Let's hope so, because now it's time to use them.  Grab the vegetable sheet and throw everything into the saute pan, along with the shredded chicken.  Pour this into the pre-baked pie shell, cover with another pie shell, and crimp with a fork around the edges.  Trim the edges off of the dough and set these aside.  WARNING: don't overfill the pie!  You will have more filling than will comfortably fit into a standard pie pan, so set that aside for something else.  See my note at the end of the recipe.

This may look like a lot of filling, because it is.  This WILL NOT FIT into one pie crust, so don't force it.

This is about as full as you're going to get.

Crimp with a fork around the edges, thusly.  I had to have a friend help here, because I don't understand pies.

Break the egg into a small bowl, and add a tablespoon of water.  Whisk this up to make an egg wash, which you brush onto the pie crust to promote browning.  Apply a good coating without ending up with an omelet on top of your pot pie.  Place the pot pie into the oven and cook until browned and the mixture is hot and bubbly, about 20-25 minutes.

I got bored and fashioned a small chicken out of extra dough.  It was delicious.

Serve in wedges with whatever sides you like (not that this needs any)

 

Use the leftover filling and pie dough to make personal sized pot pies

NOTE: so what gives, you followed the recipe to the letter and now got too much filling, and it doesn't fit in the pie shell?  Deep breath, you have loose ends mid-cooking and you're getting hysterical.  This is an easy fix.  You're going to have little bits of the pie crust left over after you trim it down, so roll those out into a small sheet, and get out your ramekins.  Put the remaining filling into these, and cover each one with a small circle of the dough.  Crimp around the edges, and now you've got single-serve pot pies, just without a bottom.  Slightly more healthy, and great fun for kids.