Category: Food

I looooooooooooovvvvvveee chicken pot pie. Like. So Much. And it can’t get more Southern than this: coming home to Mama pulling out a golden brown chicken pot pie, loaded with creamy, vegetable, chicken goodness.  I grew up with vegetable-less chicken pie because I was a silly picky eater.  We always ate it on top of rice with sides of green beans and corn.  This pot pie recipe is the love child of the traditional veggie chicken pie and my Mama’s creamy chicken pie recipe. Because I love not sticking to a recipe. And I love onions and veggies now.  Chicken Pot Pie can often vary to extremes based on your preferences.  And I’ve tried them all! Personally, I love the thick, flaky homemade pie crust.  Others like the buttery soft crescent roll type of crust.  Or maybe you’re daring and go crustless!  *gasp* And after having more than my fair share of dry chicken pot pie filling, it is time to remedy that!  No more thick, dry filling.  Only creamy, rich, satisfyingly decadent pie filling here!  No, this pie may not come out in one nice, neat slice, but I promise you won’t regret it.

Pie crust.  Let’s talk pie crust over here for a minute.  Shortening or butter?  Vinegar or not?  3-2-1 ratio or some other ratio of flour, fat, and liquid?  Pastry flour or all-purpose?  Oh, the dilemma.  So many questions!  For the flakiest, most flavorful crust… this will not fail you….

• 3 cups of all-purpose flour, thoroughly sifted
• 3/4 cup of butter, cold, cut into squares
• 1/4 cup shortening, cold
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vinegar
• 1 cup of cold water

Another trick for SUPER knock your socks off flaky crust?  Don’t go pea size with your butter chunks, go rock size.  The bigger the butter, the bigger the pockets in the crust.  Trust me on this.  I also do a combination of butter and shortening because shortening is 100% fat where butter is only 80% fat.  I like the shortening to hold everything together.  But no more than 1/4 cup because you want butter to take center stage!

Rock size butter chunks look something like this…

Your dough should look something like this when it comes together.

Flour counter and fold in half once, then in half again.  You want layers upon layers of butter.  Therefore, flaky.  Split in two and wrap in saran wrap and put on the top shelf of your fridge where the freezer air comes out for at least one hour.  You want these babies ice cold.

Meanwhile, you can be working on your filling.  Put a few breasts of chicken into a saucepan and generously salt and pepper.  Cover with water about 2 inches over the breasts.  Boil for about 10 minutes or until juices run clear.  SAVE the chicken water!  <–you’ll need this later.  Cool on a cutting board and chop or shred chicken into small pieces.  I do a little combination of both.  I like smaller pieces because I want every bite to have a piece of chicken in it!  Mine looks something like this, but do whatever your heart wants… this is YOUR chicken pot pie.

Now, it’s time for some veg.  I’m boycotting the whole peas and corn thing.  No thank you.  I’m all about the classic mirepoix mix: onions, carrots, and celery.  That’s all you need.  No, peas!  No, corn!  Just go home.

And if you happen to have a little green onions and garlic that want to come to the party, then let them.   They add a little somethin’ somethin’.

Time to pull out “Big Red” and do some sauteein’! First, melt one stick of butter in a dutch oven or stockpot.

Then add your mirepoix.  Saute for about 5-10 minutes over medium high heat until tender.

Add green onions and garlic and saute a few minutes more.

Then add 1/4 cup of flour.

And it will soak up all the butter like so.

Remember that chicken water I told you to save?  Add 2 cups of that to the veggies along with 1 cup of milk and salt and pepper to taste.

Time to cheat a little and add 3 heaping spoonfuls of condensed cream of chicken soup.

Simmer on low until heated through and thick, then add your chopped chicken and turn off the heat.

It might look like soup.  And that is GOOD.  No dry pot pie here.

Take your crusts out of the fridge and roll them out and place the bottom half in a deep 1.5 qt. round baking dish.  Fill with the pie filling.  THEN, you’ll slice some Velveeta (or any melting cheese of choice) and lay it on top.  Weird?  Yes.  Good?  Yes!  I mean who says no to cheese…

Take the other half of your pie crust, roll it out and lay over the top.  Do your awesome pie magic skills and make a fancy design if you want to.  I’ll just go novice and do that classic pinch rim.

Add some vents and bake in a 400 degree oven for about 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Fast forward 40 minutes. *insert Jeopardy theme here*

Hello, pie.  I think I love you.

Now, let me just show you the flakiness of the crust.

^ Yeah?  Yeah?  You see that?  If it goes crunch, congrats.

Let me just serve some ‘o dat up with some rice, and I’m in pure Southern comfort right there.

Southern Chicken Pot Pie

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INGREDIENTS:

Recipe for 2 pie crusts (see above)

2 large chicken breasts, salted and peppered, boiled and shredded

1 stick of butter (1/4 cup)

1 whole onion, chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

1 cup of chopped carrots

3 green onions, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup flour

2 cups of water that chicken was boiled in

1 cup of milk

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

3 heaping spoonfuls of condensed cream of chicken soup

5-6 slices of Velveeta cheese

PREPARATION:

Make pie crust and chill in refrigerator.  Put chicken breasts in saucepan and generously salt and pepper.  Pour water about 2 inches over the chicken and boil for about 10 minutes until juices run clear.  Cool chicken on a cutting board.  Once cooled, chop or shred chicken and set aside.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In dutch oven or stockpot, melt 1 stick of butter.  Add chopped mirepoix mix and saute for 5-10 minutes until tender.  Add green onions and garlic and saute a minute more.  Add 1/4 cup flour and stir.  Add 2 cups of leftover water from boiling the chicken along with 1 cup of milk.  Season with salt and pepper.  Add 3 heaping large spoonfuls of cream of chicken soup.  Simmer on low for 5 minutes until heated through and thick.  Turn off heat and add chopped chicken.  Meanwhile, take crust out of fridge and roll into 2 crusts.  Place one crust on bottom of a deep 1.5 quart baking dish.  Spoon in pie filling.  Top with sliced velveeta cheese.  Then, place top of crust on pie and crimp edges and vent the top.  Bake for 40 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

***Options:  Make an egg wash for the crust by mixing one egg with a Tbsp. of water and brushing over top of pie crust and add sea salt and fresh cracked pepper!