Chicken Pot Pie, made with all-natural ingredients, with a top and bottom pastry crust.
Prep Time2 hourshrs
Cook Time1 hourhr
Total Time3 hourshrs
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Homemade Chicken Pot Pie
Servings: 6people
Author: Don Herman
Ingredients
Pie Filling
3-4lbsCooked chicken and 1 cup chicken stock or broth(If using raw chicken, you'll make your own stock.)
1/2lbPotatoespeeled and diced
2-3Carrotspeeled and sliced
1/4lbSnap Peastrimmed and sliced to 1"
1/2mediumGreen pepper (or orange or red)diced and seeded
2clovesGarlicminced
1mediumOnionroughly diced. Or use about 1 pint of pearl onions
4tbspButter
2tbspFlour
1cupHeavy Cream
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/2tspTabasco or other hot sauce
1bunch freshParsley(or 8 tsp dried)
1egg yolkfor egg wash, if desired
1Pot Pie Pastrysee below
Pastry Ingredients
3cupsFlour
1 1/4tspSalt
1stickButter1/4 lb., cut into small pieces
1/2cupShorteningchilled. I used lard.
Ice water
Instructions
For Filling
If using fresh parsley, chop enough to fill 1/4 cup and set that aside. Place remaining fresh parsley (or 4 tsp dried parsley), along with the chicken (cooked or raw) and half the chopped onion in a pot. Add water just to cover meat and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 30 minutes. Pull out the chicken and let it cool. Pull the chicken off the bones and chop it into bite-sized pieces. If you used leftover boneless chicken, just cut that into small pieces. Put the chicken into a large bowl (we'll add more to this later, so give yourself some room.)
Make some chicken stock by placing the bones back into the pot and simmering for one hour. OR, if you're using leftover cooked chicken, add one cup of chicken broth or stock to the pot. (Precooked bones won't offer up any stock, so don't bother with that)
If you've pre-cooked your veggies, just add them all to the cut-up chicken in the large bowl.
If you haven't already, cook separately the 1) potatoes, 2) carrots, and then 3) the snap peas, peppers and the remaining 1/2 onion in the hot broth, just until tender. You may need to add a touch of broth or water now and then if the veggies absorb some liquid. Scoop them from the broth and add to the chicken in the large bowl. Save the broth! You'll need one cup or so.
Preheat oven to 450F. In a small skillet, melt 1 tbsp of butter and cook the garlic and mushrooms for about 3 minutes. Add all to the chicken/veggie mixture. Then melt the remaining 3 tbsp butter in the skillet over medium heat until bubbling. Add the flour and stir with a whisk for about 3 minutes until the flour just begins to turn golden. Carefully add one cup of the broth to the flour and stir with the whisk until smooth and thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in the cream. Add the 1/4 cup fresh or 4 tsp dried parsley and Tabasco. Season with salt and pepper. (If you made your own stock from bones, you'll need about 1 tsp of salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. If you used prepared broth, you'll need much less salt, if any!) Stir the sauce into the chicken and veggie mixture.
Line a 9" pie pan with Pot Pie Pastry (see below). Fill with chicken mixture and cover with top pastry. Crimp the edges and cut a vent in top. If desired, whisk a tsp of water into an egg yolk and brush the top of your pie with this egg wash.
Bake at 450F for 15 minutes, or until the crust just begins to brown. Reduce the heat to 350F and continue baking until the crust is golden - about 35 minutes. Let set for 10 minutes before slicing.
For Pastry
Whisk the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and shortening. With your hands, rub the flour and shortening/butter together until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (or use a pastry blender). Stir in ice water, until dough just holds together (I used 6 Tbl, but here in Colorado, my flour is always very dry.)
Divide the dough – 1/3 for top crust and 2/3 for bottom. Pat into a flattened disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Roll the bottom dough out on a floured surface about 1/4″ thick (thicker than a normal pie crust.) Lay the crust into a 9″ pie place and trim. Leave the top dough in the fridge until you’ve added the chicken mixture. Then roll it out and drape over the top of the pie. Crimp edges, cut a vent and brush with egg wash.
Notes
Final notes: Here at Baking Naturally, I work to provide kitchen-tested recipes that use only natural ingredients. However, IF you wanted to cheat a bit and purchase a store-bought crust, that’s up to you! Just remember, the store-bought crust is made for a fruit pie and will be quite a bit thinner than the one called for here.