Chicken Pot Pie

The hardest part of making Chicken Pot Pie is waiting for it to set before digging in! It’s so worth the wait. I will take you step by step through pictures and captions to give the “why” of the step and the confidence in doing so!

Step 1: Make sure you have ALL the ingredients – this will eliminate frustration – this is called mise en place Yield: 1.5 qt pie Ingredients 4 ea chicken thighs bone in / skin on 4 c (1qt) unsalted chicken stock 1 ea egg 1 c frozen peas 1 ea carrot 4 ea celery stocks 1 c picked fresh parsley (about 1/4 bunch) 1/2 c AP flour 1 ea medium whole onion

Step 2: Equipment miss en place – Once again, this will eliminate frustration! Equipment: Mise cups/bowls – I used pretty matching ones for the sake of looking well, pretty! use whatever you have. This will help with organization and order of use. That will make a little more sense in a few slides! Heavy bottom pot – This one is a enamel on steel. The reason for this its tends to absorb heat more evenly. However, if you do not have one, no sweat, turn the heat down a little lower and watch closely! Pastry brush – For egg wash. Peeler – For carrot 1.5qt pie dish – This recipe fits perfectly in this dish!

Baking the Chicken

Preheat the oven to 375F . Place chicken skin side up and salt liberally. All of the ingredients are SALT FREE. You will add the salt to your taste. I 100% guarantee the salt content added on your own is way less than what is put into our salted raw ingredients!

Baking the chicken takes about 45 min to 1 hour. Bake until the skin is browned.

*Breast vs thigh. Breast has low fat content and flavor and tends to dry up, which is why its used in a lot of healthy cooking. The thigh is full of flavor and has a higher fat content. Cooking with the skin on and bone in only increase the flavor and mouth feel. For this recipe, I will always use thigh. However, if you decide to use breast, only use two.

Mise Order: Chop onion, celery, carrot and parsley and put into your mine bowls. Put them in the following order – 1: onion 2: celery 3: carrot 4: AP flour 5: chx stock 6: peas 7: parsley

This is the perfect time to CLEAN AS YOU GO. The only item cooking is the chicken, nothing needs to be monitored on the stove. Clean now and keep yourself organized!

To sweat, follow the steps below. But before you get started, its a great time to talk about oils and butters. -use oil that has a high burn point like grapeseed, vegetable, rice bran, etc *olive oil is NOT a good choice. Its expensive and has so much flavor that will not enhance the final product. -use butter (NOT margerine) that is unsalted to control salt content

Sweat: 1: place pot on heat source and put on med, high. About a 7. 2: once pot is heated, melt butter or oil and add onion. You should NOT hear sound or see color. This takes a few minutes. Sweat until onions start to become translucent.

Once the onions are beginning to be translucent, add celery and carrots. Sweat them only for a few minutes. They will finish cooking inside the pie!

Singer (son-jay) Method: fancy way to say, pan gravy method! -sprinkle 1/2c AP flour (ratio – 2T AP flour to 1c liquid)

When flour is coated to veg, slowly add in chi stock and stir until its absorbed. It should be pasty before adding more stock. Repeat until all stock is used. It may be a little soupy, do not worry just cook down a little more.

mmm…gravy! At this point, there is no salt… super bland. Add salt a liberal pinch at a time. Taste between each on until the flavor is where you want it to be.

Baked chx thighs…mmm… Is anyone else getting super hungry?!

Using two forks, pick bones out of chicken. It should shred pretty easily. Add the picked chicken meat and drippings to the gravy.

TASTE. The chicken will absorb a little salt, so you will probably have to add more salt. TASTE again.

TURN OFF HEAT>

Add in peas and parsley and stir. Taste, add seasoning, taste again.

Fill pie dish. Crack egg into bowl, add a splash of water and beat with a fork. Brush egg wash around lip of dish to ensure pastry will stick to edges!

Roll on pastry and pinch the edges together and to pie dish. Cut a small hole middle so the juices and come through the top instead of the sides. Liberally egg wash the pastry allover – don’t forget the sides! Oven should still be at 375F. Place pie on a larger sheet tray for easy removal and for cleanliness if the pie should drip! Bake until the crust is GBD – golden brown delicious! About 45 min, depending on oven

*Full disclosure – I used store bought pie crust. The reason is because I did not have enough time or patience for this post. But it was just as good! I will make a pie crust in a later post!

When done, let rest for 20 min. Enjoy!