chicken pot pie

Thanks for letting me take about a week hiatus. With school wrapping up, graduations, Memorial Day weekend, there was just not enough time in the day to keep you updated on my culinary adventures. Or perhaps I was just too lazy to upload my pictures. ...you may never know...While this dish may not seem summer appropriate, allow me to posit that it can be spring appropriate. We had some drizzly, dreary spring weather early last week and I thought it would be perfectly apt to attempt homemade pot pie. Now I did not make the pie crust. So, to be candid and true to you loyal readers, I made homemade pot and store bought pie.

I had fun making them individually, the smaller one was taken out about ten minutes early. The big one is in about a 16 oz dish and the small one, about 10 oz. Here you can see the filling station.

My sloppy pie crust job resulted in some excess dough that inspired my artistic sensibilities, but you'll have to glaze over the recipe to reach the finale. I think the next time I make this, I'm going to grate about a 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese into the filling. You know, for the added calcium.

Chicken Pot Pie
INGREDIENTS
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1.5 whole chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on (I used 2 cups diced rotisserie chicken meat)

1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teasp nutmeg
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
2/3 cup milk (room temperature recommended)

1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (or approx 1 cup)
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced potato
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1 egg beaten
1/2 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. white wine
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. minced garlic
1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
1 egg beaten
DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
{chicken}
Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 2 to 3 cups of cubed chicken. (Can be done in advance)
{veggies}
Heat large non-stick saucepan with lid on medium. Add potatoes, 1/2 c. chicken broth, wine, lemon juice and garlic. Bring to boil and cook covered 5 minutes, add carrots and cook 5 min more, stir uncovered for 3 minutes to allow liquids to reduce. {see note}
{filling}
Add any remaining liquid from vegetables to small pot. Add the rest of the broth to the small pot and heat on low. In large saucepan over medium heat, cook onions in butter until soft and translucent. Stir in flour, salt, pepper. Slowly stir in milk and warmed chicken broth Simmer over medium-low heat until thick, stirring often. Add the cubed chicken, potatoes, carrots, peas and parsley. Mix well.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Sprinkle bottom of deep pie plate lightly with flour, spread into a thin layer with your fingers. Press crust into bottom of dish and repeat with flour. Pour the chicken mixture in bottom pie crust. Cover with top crust, seal edges, and cut away excess dough. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Bake 45 min. Allow to cool for 5 - 10 minutes before serving.
{note}
I did not have carrots. Also, an alternative to cooking the vegetables is to just blanch them: Add diced potatoes to 2 quarts water and boil for about 10 minutes. Add diced carrots to boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove together and submerge in ice water. Drain and set aside. This is the truly British (though arguably less inspiring) way of cooking the vegetables.
Ah yes, and there's what I did with the excess dough. Who doesn't want a personalized pot pie? Now you're certainly realizing that is what your soul has been missing.
That's a cursive T. In case you're having trouble.