Chicken Pot Pies

Pie is intimidating. Either it’s a ton of work, you’re concerned about a soggy bottom, or both. That’s why I’m a big fan of crumble, and of this recipe, too.

In my youth, chicken pot pie was something purchased frozen at the butcherie and always heated unevenly, providing a mouthful of cold peas no matter how many times you turned it. The liquid was curiously goopy and super salty. Suffice it to say, I have always wanted to try a homemade version.

When I saw a chicken pot pie recipe on Once Upon A Chef, my first thought was: “I would never have attempted this BC (before child), why would I attempt it now?” The answer: “I had the chicken!”

So, why do I have the chicken? Jen advises buying a rotisserie chicken. Great idea, but not for the kosher cook. Because I like dark meat and Rich likes light meat, I end up buying a whole chicken every week just to make both of us happy. We get two meals out of it, but we’re always left with the legs! Eitan has started eating bits of them, but I needed a better solution, and I found this recipe.

I take the meat off the legs every Friday night post dinner. Two legs is about ¾ to 1 cup of chicken. I freeze the meet every other week so that I have enough. In my opinion, you don’t need nearly as much as Jen calls for in her recipe.

I’ve made many other (mostly time-saving) changes to the recipe as well. Last night I had it prepped in 30 minutes!

Note: I wanted to purchase meat soufflé dishes for this recipe and had been planning to match our dairy set. However, Rich wanted a different look so that we could distinguish them, and we didn’t want anything made in China. I ended up with 8 ounce containers by Duralex. They are a bit small, so making 3 pies for the two of us is generally just right. This recipe makes 6 pies of that size.

Ingredients

• 1 sheet puff pastry, defrosted in fridge
• 2 tablespoons margarine
• 4 carrots (about 24 baby carrots), cut into ¼” rounds
• 2 celery sticks, cut into ¼” rounds
• 3 cloves (about 1½ teaspoons) garlic
• 1 cup frozen pearl onions
• ⅓ cup flour
• 2 cups chicken broth
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1-2 cups shredded chicken
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 egg

Preparation

1. Melt margarine and add carrots, celery, garlic, and pearl onion to pan. Saute 8 minutes.
2. Add the flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1-2 minutes.
3. Add the broth and salt, and bring to a boil. Simmer until thickened, about 2 minutes. Scrape bits off the bottom during this process.
4. Take off the heat and add the thyme, chicken, and frozen peas.
5. Spoon into 6 ramekins. Note: Jen says to only fill them ¾ of the way. I filled one all the way to experiment and didn’t notice a difference. Place on a foil-lined baking sheet.
6. Take your (defrosted) puff pastry out of the fridge. You might want to roll it out a bit to get 6 pieces out of it. Using a spare ramekin, press the shape into the pastry. Cut circles about ½” larger, or more if possible. Put any spare on the baking sheet.
7. Beat the egg with 1 tbs of water and brush the outside of the ramekins.
8. Place the dough rounds over the bowls, and press around the edges so the dough adheres. Brush the dough with egg wash, including the extra pieces. Cut a ½” slit in the top of each pie.
9. Bake at 425 degrees F for 15 minutes in toaster oven. Jen says 20-25 minutes for a regular oven.

Reheating Preparation

1. I always make the filling ahead of time, and just store it in the fridge. I also tried fully assembling the pies ahead of time, except for the egg wash and slits on top. They came out great!
2. We didn’t eat one of the pies and stored it in the fridge overnight. We reheated it at 325 degrees F for 20 minutes and it was a bit cool. Maybe a higher temperature or longer in the oven?

Based on a recipe by Jenn Segal