Pot Pie Recipe

I should preface this by saying that I don’t use measuring cups 99.9% of the time when I cook. I don’t measure anything unless I’m baking- and even then I measure many things by sizing them up using my eyes and not measuring cups or spoons. So, measurements here aren’t exact, with the exception of the pie crust.

I use the crust recipe from The Joy of Cooking (my faaaavorite cookbook in the whole entire world). Here is a video that shows you step by step how that’s done: 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t usually pre-bake the crust before I put the filling in, but I’ve done it before. The results were pretty much the same both times, which is why I no longer bother.

The filling consists of carrots, a little celery, garlic, russet potatoes (you want something that will hold it’s shape so avoid yukon golds. Yeah, yeah I know that they’re delicious but unless you want mashed potatoes in your pie you should avoid them), onion, frozen peas, bay leaf, salt (I use kosher), freshly ground black pepper, poultry seasoning, and a little white pepper. I’ve also thrown fresh green beans in there. You can put whatever you like in it, really. You could also skip the poultry seasoning and throw in some thyme- I’ve done that many times. I love thyme. You’ll also, of course, need cubed chicken (I usually cut up, raw chicken breasts but I’ve used those pre-cooked rotisserie chickens that you can buy from the supermarket, too. Just be sure to clean up the chicken thoroughly- you don’t want any cartilage, bone, or veins in there).  Oh! And chicken stock. And flour.

The amount of ingredients you use would of course depend greatly on how big you’re making your pie. I almost never make mine in a wee little pie pan. I use a big 9"x13" casserole pan. Something like this would do:

Just roll your pie crust to fit. Of course the pie crust ends up a little thinner, but I like it like that. If you accidentally make a hole in it it’s no big deal, just patch it up with some extra dough. You likely won’t have enough crust to make it hang over the sides like the video says, but that’s okay also. Just make sure that the crust is about 2 1/2ish inches high on the sides. When you pour in the filling you want it to be IN the crust. Pre-heat your oven to 350- 375ish.

For a pan this size you’ll generally need 4ish carrots, 3 stalks of celery, half an onion, a clove or two of garlic, one bay leaf, and one large potato (you don’t have to peel it if you clean it well enough) I cut all of the veggies into chunks about 1/2 an inch thick. I like chunks, Dave likes everything cut a little smaller than that. Cut everything however you want- just make sure that everything is approximately the same size.

Put all of the veggies EXCEPT THE PEAS and the cubed raw chicken into a large pot with a tablespoon or two of oil- I use canola but you can use whatever you have. I use my huge le creuset, which looks like this:

 

(No, this isn’t my kitchen… I just chose this picture because it has other stuff in it, which gives you an idea of its size. I don’t know exactly what size mine is in terms of quarts)

 

If you’re using pre-cooked chicken then you should probably leave the chicken out until the vegetables have cooked through. Salt everything very lightly- you can always add more salt later. You can go crazy on the black pepper- I know I do. 1/2 a teaspoon of white pepper will do, and maybe 1/2 to 3/4 of a tablespoon of poultry seasoning. Toss the bay leaf in and cover the pot. Cook everything over medium heat until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are soft but aren’t falling apart. Once it goes into the oven the veggies will cook a little more, but you want the majority of the cooking done BEFORE you put it into the oven… otherwise you’ll end up with a pot pie that has a burnt crust and crunchy vegetables. Gross.

Oh! And keep an eye on everything while it’s cooking. You don’t want the vegetables to brown. It’s okay to take the cover off and stir everything as needed- just don’t go crazy with the stirring or you’ll end up with mashed potatoes. Again, that’s not good.

Once everything is cooked add another tablespoon or two of oil. Now add some flour. Maybe 1/4 – 1/2 a cup? You’re making a gravy basically- keep in that in mind. You want the sauce thickened but not pasty… and you don’t want it super runny either.

Stir the vegetable mixture with the flour over low, med-low heat. Now, add the stock! I usually buy one of these and it’s generally enough:

 

 

Add the stock a little bit at a time while stirring everything to prevent lumps. Once all of the stock is in, bring the sauce to a boil. Sauces with flour don’t thicken completely until they’ve been brought to a boil.

If you’ve added all of the stock and the sauce still looks too thick you can add some water.

If you’ve added too much stock, put some extra flour and some water into a cup and stir it well until you have a smooth slurry. Take the pot off of the burner so that the sauce is no longer boiling. Pour the slurry into the sauce while stirring and then put it back on the burner and bring to a boil. That should thicken it up without making a lumpy sauce.

THIS is where you add the peas and/or cooked chicken. It’s okay if the peas are still frozen or cold- they’ll heat up, I promise. If you pre-cook them or add them when you add the other vegetables they’ll get all nasty and mushy. I hate overcooked peas and you should too.

Once everything is to the right consistency you can pour it into your prepared pan, making sure that the filling doesn’t come too close to the top of the pie crust. If you’ve made too much filling then you can freeze it for later use.

Now, unroll the top of the crust onto the pie. Fold over the edges to make a seal, or crimp with a fork. Put a couple of slits in the top of the crust to allow stea

m to escape.

Throw the whole thing (careful, it’s heavy!) into the oven and bake for an hour or until the crust is lightly golden brown.

When it’s finished be sure to allow it to cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting into it. If you don’t wait all of the filling will come gushing out of the pie when you do cut into it.

Ahhh that took longer than I expected! I have to leave for work in 15 minutes and I haven’t even showered yet!!

Enjoy 🙂