Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Chicken Pot Pie

The first time I made this was for our first married Valentines Day together. I originally used Ina Garten's recipe, which is delicious, but very involved. I made a variation using inspiration from Rachael Ray.

what you need:

2 medium carrots, sliced
1 cup onion, diced
1 large stalk of celery, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 russet potato, chopped into small chunks
1-2 chicken breasts, chopped
2-3 tablespoons flour
2 cups of milk
1-2 cups chicken stock or broth
1 cup frozen peas
1 package store bought puff pastry
2 teaspoons of salt
1 teaspoon pepper


Preheat oven to 350. In a large skillet heat the oil. Add carrots, onions and celery. Also add 1/2 teaspoon salt. Saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add potatoes and chicken. Saute until chicken is white. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and chicken and stir it in to allow the flour to cook for a few minutes. Add the milk and chicken stock (one cup first, then add more if it's too thick) into the vegetable and chicken mixture. Ideally you want the gravy to look like...pot pie gravy. Thick but not too thick.

You can make individual pot pies in little ceramic dishes or one large one in a pie dish. I like a bottom and top layer, but you can just do a top layer if you prefer. Cut the pastry to fit into the dish and fill with the chicken and vegetable mixture. Top with pastry if desired. I bake mine for 10ish minutes if I do individual pies, or probably 15-20 minutes if it's one large one. Keep any eye on the top crust; you want it golden brown.

When I make this much I do two individual ceramics that are a decent size and we both don't eat it all. So it can serve 2-4 depending on how hungry you are.