Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken pot pie was one of the first things I ever learned to make. I even remember it being my “thing” in college, because I would make it semi-frequently and everyone loved it. Of course, a few years prior I had discovered the magic of Campbell’s cream of ___ soups (growing up, those cans had never passed the plane of our door), and Pilsbury ready-made pie shells, both which had starring roles in that particular pot pie.

There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, and to be clear, the pot pie was always a hit. But as I started cooking more and more, I started using fewer and fewer processed ingredients. Eventually I made my own filling, but still used a store-bought pie crust. I then moved to Trader Joe’s multigrain baking mix, and finally, to my own pie crust.

I first came across this dough on Josie’s blog, and it seemed like the perfect topping for pot pie, since it was biscuit-like but also somehow used less butter than a standard pie crust. I also added some whole wheat flour to boost the nutritional content a bit.

This does take a little time, since you have to make the dough, filling, and then assemble, but each step is really easy. Give it a try! If you’d rather make a whole pie, you will need to use the original recipe for the pie dough, since I used 2/3 of the recipe.

Individual Chicken Pot Pies

Makes about 4 pies, depending on baking dish size

Pie Crust:

3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup AP flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ cubes
1/2 cup buttermilk

Filing:

2 Tbsp. butter, divided
1 small onion or leek, diced
1 small russet potato, diced into small cubes
1 carrot, sliced
1 celery rib, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 bay leaf
2 tsp. minced thyme
4 oz. mushrooms, sliced
2 Tbsp. flour
1.5 cups chicken broth, warmed
1/2 cup milk or cream, at room temperature
1 cup cooked chicken, diced or shredded (I like using a mix of white and dark meat)
1/3 cup peas

1 egg, lightly beaten

To make the crust: Whisk together flour, baking powder, and  salt in a bowl, or pulse a few times in your food processor. Blend in the butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse with the food processor) until it resembles coarse meal. Add the buttermilk, stirring until mixture just forms a dough, then gather into a ball and pat into a disc. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

To make the filling: Melt 1 Tbsp. butter in a deep saute pan. Add the onion, potato, carrot, and celery and cook until tender. Stir in the garlic, bay leaf, mushrooms, and thyme, and cook until mushrooms have given up their juices.

Add the remaining 1 Tbsp. of butter to the pan to melt. Sprinkle in the flour and cook about 1-2 minutes until combined and no longer raw. Slowly stir in the warmed chicken broth, followed by the milk to cream. Continue simmering over medium low, stirring, until thickened. Turn off the heat and stir in the chicken and peas. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 375.

Place the baking dishes on a sheet pan, and pour the filling into them.

Roll out your pie dough on a floured surface and cut 4 circles that are about 1/2″ bigger than the tops of the baking dishes you are using. Place each circle over the baking dish and press the sides to adhere. Brush the beaten egg on top of the dough, and then cut a slit into each dough round, for steam to escape.

Bake for about 25-30 minutes, until pie crust is golden.

Filling is an original recipe; pie crust is adapted from Gourmet, via Pink Parsley