Chicken Pot Pie

After cooking a savoury much-too-large-for-us chicken this week, I set out to make some freezer meals with the left over chicken. I made these delectable chicken pot pies from scratch, with veggies frozen from my garden this last summer and homemade pie crust! The small portions would make a perfect meal to pop into the oven during those long, cold days (and nights!) during calving season. I hope you enjoy!


Chicken Pot Pie Filling:
1/3 cup butter, unsalted
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 skim milk
1 lb cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups peas
2 cups corn
2 cups carrots, chopped
2 cups potatoes, chopped

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425. Spray tinfoil pans or dishes with cooking spray. If making your own crust see below for my recipe. If not, you can get various different pre-made crusts that will do the trick.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt your butter. Stir in your onion and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. Be sure to stir often.
3. Add your salt, pepper and flour to the saucepan and gradually add your milk & broth, stirring. Bring to a boil.
4. Add your chicken and thawed veggies, as well as your potatoes. Continue to stir until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat.
5. Scoop your mixture into your pie crusts. This recipe filled 9 small individual pie plaPut a pie crust on the top of the mixture with slits to allow airflow. Use your fingers to pinch the edges of the crust.
6. At this point I put the individual pies in the freezer to be eaten later. If not freezing, pop in the oven for 20-40 minutes depending on the size of pie you chose.

Crust Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup shortening or lard
1 tsp salt
Create a slurry with:
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup ice water

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening with a pastry blender until you achieve pea-sized crumbs.
2. In a separate bowl create the slurry of flour and ice water. Be sure there are no lumps.
3. Add slurry to the large bowl, mixing the dough with your hands.
4. Turn dough onto a a floured surface and fold the dough onto itself while kneading to create layers.
5. Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to the desired thickness. I used a bowl that was slightly bigger than the tin foil pie plates I was going to use, to cut the crust.

Note: I had to make this particular crust recipe twice to have enough dough to make 9 small individual chicken pot pies. Many recipes only call for a top crust, not a bottom lining crust. If you choose to go that route the above recipe will be adequate for the amount of filling made in step one. If you choose to make one large pot pie the above recipe should be enough for one full top and one full bottom crust.

Happy Cooking!

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