Chicken Pot Pie

When it's really cold and/or snowy, I head to the kitchen. There's usually a big pot of soup simmering and/or a batch of cookies baking. Since I've done both of those already this week, today I made chicken pot pie from scratch. Totally. Made the ( ugh) pie crust, baked the chicken, made the sauce from scratch ( no cream of anything in this recipe! ) and baked individual pies! Ok, I was bored and it was too cold in my studio to paint!

I found the recipe on the blog, Simply Scratch. She even gives her recipe for pie crust made with cold butter in the food processor. Next time, I would use the refrigerated crust. I would also bake one 9x13 pan of Chicken Pie! Mama rolled out her crust and baked half of it on a cookie sheet, then layered it with the filling, topping it with unbaked crust. Then she baked the Chicken Pie just long enough for the filling to bubble and the crust to brown.

Here's the recipe as I made it today. It was absolutely DELICIOUS! We have plenty of leftovers which we will look forward to!

HOMEMADE CHICKEN POT PIES
1 pound Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, cooked and chopped

1 stick butter, divided

2 carrots, peeled and diced small

2 stalks celery, diced small

1 cup diced cooked potatoes

1 medium onion, peeled and diced small

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen corn ( I omitted this)

3 cups chicken broth, warmed

1-1/2 cups milk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons kosher salg, more or less to taste

1/2 teaspoons black pepper, more or less to taste

1 tablespoon dried parsley

1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried

1 recipe for Homemade Pie Crust

6 (10-ounce) Ramekins or 1( 9x13-inch baking pan)

Preheat  oven to 375 degrees and grease six 10-ounce ramekins with butter or olive oil.

Roll the pie crust out and use a bowl {slightly larger than the ramekin}, trace and cut out 6 circles, using the scraps to make more if needed. Keep the dough circles in the fridge so they stay cold.

Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large Dutch oven.

Add in the diced carrots and cook for 5 minutes. Add in the diced onion and celery and season with a teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent and the carrots are soft {but not too soft}. Add in the remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and let that melt. Once melted add in the half cup of flour and stir often while it cooks for 2 minutes.

Pour in 3 cups of hot chicken broth and 1-1/2 cups of whole milk. Let that simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened 5-8 minutes.

Next add in frozen peas, corn, cooked chicken, dried parsley and chopped fresh thyme. Stir. Taste add season further with up to a teaspoon more of salt and a little more black pepper if desired.

Place the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Evenly divide the diced cooked potatoes into each prepared ramekin.

Spoon the pot pie filling evenly over the potatoes, filling the ramekins to the brim. Let them cool down a bit before placing the pie dough over top and crimping the edges. With a sharp knife make slits for ventilation.

Slide the tray of pot pies into a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden.

Remove and let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

This delicious recipe brought to you by Simply Scratch
http://www.simplyscratch.com/2012/12/chicken-pot-pies.html