Chicken pot pie… it conjures up images of trailer parks and t.v. dinners. I loved pot pies as a kid- we always had Swanson; my brother and I would inevitably sustain 3rd degree burns over our tongues and the roof of our mouths from eating it straight out of the oven. I loved! how the bottom crust was always a little gummy. I have seen many recipes for fancy pot pies involving things like snow peas and chanterelle mushrooms but by golly, what I really wanted was a GOOD version of a Swanson pot pie with uniformly diced carrots and potatoes. This is absolute comfort food- get your sweat pants on, park yourself in front of the t.v. and dig in!
I save the drippings from when I roast the chicken, refrigerate overnight and take the fat off the top; this pan jelly, as it’s known, is a delicious flavor boost for the pot pie which would otherwise be bland. If you don’t roast your own chicken for this recipe, you will have to use something else– I’ve seen these flavor boost products near the chicken stock so something like that might work. Maybe one of those concentrated bouillon products would be o.k.
1/2 pie crust recipe (leave out the sugar)
6 T butter
1 medium onion, diced
6 T flour
2 cups chicken stock
1 cup milk
2 cups diced potatoes, boiled or steamed for about 10 minutes
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup peas
2 cups leftover roasted chicken, cubed
3 T de-fatted chicken drippings
2 T chopped parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Melt the butter and cook the onions in it over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Increase heat to medium and stir in the flour — cook, stirring constantly, for about 4 or 5 minutes to make a very light brown roux. Whisk in the chicken stock and bring the liquid to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until it is thickened. Stir in the milk and remaining ingredients and simmer for about 5 minutes. Taste the filling and adjust seasonings. Put the filling in a lightly greased, deep-dish ceramic pie plate. Meanwhile preheat oven to 400ยบ; while oven is preheating, roll out your pie crust to fit over the top of the filling, cut slits in the top and bake on a parchment-lined rimmed baking sheet for about 30-40 minutes, until crust is nice and brown and the filling is bubbling.
