Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie is timeless comfort food. You can go for a long time without thinking about it and all of a sudden it calls to you. If you keep some chicken and frozen peas in your freezer, and carrots and a ready-made pie crust in your refrigerator, you can make this whenever the mood strikes you.

 

You do not have to make it the same way twice; you can experiment with adding different vegetable combinations, different herbs, or even make the leap outside this recipe and use seafood, or skip the piecrust and oven and serve the warmed filling over white rice. Be prepared to rename your creation.

 

SERVES 4 TO 6

 

Ingredients:

2 carrots

1 cup peas, frozen ones are fine

1 cup mushrooms

1 tablespoon butter

 

4 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons flour

 

2 cups chicken bouillon, warmed; you can use milk instead to make a richer sauce

 

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ teaspoon tarragon

½ teaspoon thyme

2 tablespoons brandy

 

3 cups cooked chicken, cut into chunks

 

1 piecrust, either store-bought unshaped dough or home-made

 

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Instructions:

▪ Prepare the vegetables by peeling the carrots and cut them into matchstick size pieces; trim and clean the mushrooms and cut in half if they are large; have peas at hand.

 

▪ Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a large frying pan over medium heat and cook the carrots for a couple of minutes, add the mushrooms for another couple, then the peas. Continue to cook for another minute or so until all the vegetables are softened. Set them aside.

 

▪ Reduce the heat to low and melt 4 tablespoons of butter in the pan, stir in the flour and cook for 3 minutes, stirring, and letting the mixture bubble gently but not brown. Remove from heat.

 

▪ Stir in the bouillon or milk and return to medium heat, allowing it to come to a simmer and thicken as you continue to stir it.

 

▪ Add salt, pepper, tarragon, thyme and brandy. Taste and adjust the seasonings. Cover and cook on low heat for 15 minutes.

 

▪ Combine the sauce, chicken, vegetables and add to a buttered baking dish. Cover with the piecrust, pinching the edges over the dish artistically, and cut several steam vents in the top.

 

▪ Set the dish on a baking sheet to catch spills and bake in an oven preheated to 400˚F for about 45 minutes.