Pie of the month: Comforting the psyche with chicken pot pie

There is talk aplenty of comfort foods in the cold winter months, and among the constants (like mac and cheese and mashed potatoes) on the lists of fare that warm the heart and the belly, you will usually find chicken pot pie.

I have been a pot pie fan since childhood. My mother was a home cook of steady and outstanding production, so frozen TV dinners and pot pies came up infrequently and were considered a rare treat. Looking back now, I realize those minute pies – as sodium-laden as salt licks – were not only not all that good nor good for you. Still, they came in a cute little foil pan and lent variety and intrigue (something “store-bought”) to our sheltered country lives.

As an adult, I have continued to indulge in a pot pie every now and again, usually on nights when I just wanted to pop something in the oven (the microwave was never the greatest way to bake one), and smell, over the next hour, the richness of crust and chicken and vegetables. Comforting to smell and comforting to eat. I’ve tried a slew of different frozen pies, but I always came back to Marie Callender’s. The crust is buttery and flaky and the filling, loaded with chicken, is seasoned quite well. My tastes must align with a number of others on this matter; the San Francisco Chronicle recently gave it’s top “Taster’s Choice” rating to the Marie Callender’s pie.

While heating a frozen pie in the oven is a needed option at some points, such a simple, homey concoction seemed like an obvious choice for something to try to make. But just who makes a homemade chicken pot pie? I knew of no one, but knew this: I’d try it myself before I died!

I decided on the Barefoot Contessa’s (Ina Garten’s) recipe. I had seen her make it on her cooking show, and it seemed do-able and looked delicious. The recipe gave me a chance to try yet another new pastry crust recipe (perhaps this should be called “Crust of the Month” — no, that doesn’t sound right).

For this recipe, I was reminded by a friend at work of one of my basic cooking tenets: food is always better the next day. Particularly soups and stews – and pot pie filling is a stew – benefit of a day of wait. Flavors have a chance to intermingle and develop. I know of very few dishes (including desserts) that do not improve from an overnight stay in the refrigerator. So, I made the filling the day before I put the pot pies together.

The filling is the only place where I made a slight adaptation with the recipe. I noticed the only seasoning (besides the chicken and vegetables) for the recipe was salt, pepper, and parsley. Since I believe most chicken recipes should have thyme, so I added fresh thyme to the stew. The recipe makes a voluminous kettle of rich, creamy filling, loaded with large chunks of chicken breast that had been roasted in the oven, onions – both diced yellow and baby pearl, peas and carrots. I held back a little on the amount of peas, as my longtime friend and collaborator (who would be sharing the pies with me) has a hatred of peas extending back to his schoolboy cafeteria years when he was forced to eat piles of the vegetable, canned and cooked to a tasteless gray. To him, I have said – borrowing from a famous newspaper food headline of the past: “Give peas a chance!”

Filling made and in the refrigerator, I set myself to the pastry making the next day. I was intrigued that baking powder was a part of the ingredients, and I hoped for a slightly puffed crust. The dough came together quite easily in the food processor and handled like a dream. After resting in the refrigerator for a half hour, it rolled out easily into the size required to cover the individual pot pie dishes. I got to use my new toy – a pastry wheel – to cut the dough into circles with a scalloped edge.

I filled two different sizes mini “tureens” (crocks, bowls, etc.) with filling and there was still a considerable amount of chicken stew left (I may freeze this to be used again somewhere down the road. I think one flaw of the recipe is that there is no mention of the size dish to use – just four individual dishes. I don’t think most people have the size of baking dishes that the Barefoot Contessa used – hers seemed quite deep and unusually shaped.

The crust was smooth, thick and quite pretty. It molded beautifully over the dish edges brushed with egg wash. I employed my own little creative design atop the pies and brushed them with more egg wash. The pies baked up nicely, and the crust did puff up a little with the baking powder lift. It was a tender crust, too, breaking up amiably into bite-sized chunks to be plunged into the depths of the creamy stew. Quite tasty. The true test came from my longtime friend and collaborator, who, not only hates peas, but hates pot pies! “Hey, this is pretty good,” he said, and ate the whole thing!

Chicken Pot Pie
From “Barefoot Contessa” (Ina Garten; www.foodtv.com)
Serves: 4 individual pot pies

Ingredients
3 whole (6 split) chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on
3 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
5 cups chicken stock, preferably homemade
2 chicken bouillon cubes
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups yellow onions, chopped (2 onions)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 cups medium-diced carrots, blanched for 2 minutes
1 (10-ounce) package frozen peas (2 cups)
1 1/2 cups frozen small whole onions
1/2 cup minced fresh parsley leaves
•
For the pastry:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub them with olive oil. Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Roast for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and discard the skin. Cut the chicken into large dice. You will have 4 to 6 cups of cubed chicken.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas, onions and parsley, Mix well.

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Pulse 10 times, or until the fat is the size of peas. With the motor running, add the ice water; process only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Divide the dough into quarters and roll each piece into an 8-inch circle. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Trim the circle to 1/2-inch larger than the top of the bowl. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough, with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

Blogger’s note: Leaves of several sprigs of fresh thyme were added during the cooking of the sautéed onions.

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