Bye Bye Chicken Pot Pie...
I call this recipe Bye Bye Chicken Pot Pie because it goes so fast, bye bye is the only thing you can say to it. It's a one dish dinner that needs to be doubled or someones gonna be left wanting. Honest, I've never made this and ever had any leftovers, even when I make it for just the three of us, but then I only make one pie.
(I'm not vain enough to think anyone is ever gonna make this, but if you do, read the direction, things are subject to change.)
Here's what you need...
Some chicken. I like chicken breasts that I find on sale cheap. Three is pretty good for two pies. |
A couple stalks of celery, an onion, some garlic, and some potatoes.. |
A stick of butter. Yeah, an entire stick. I never said this was good for you, I just said it was good and doesn't butter make everything better? |
I forgot to take a picture of this but you need 12 TBS. of all purpose flour. |
Four cups of chicken broth or the equivalent in bouillon or better than bouillon and like the name says, it is. Better Than Bouillon that is. And don't judge me for that measuring cup! I've got nice two cup ones too but this is my only four cup and it's old. Now I've got to go buy a new one out of shame..fine. |
Two cups of half and half. If you want to save calories, you could use evaporated milk but I wasn't trying to save calories, I was trying to make it taste good. |
A bag of frozen mixed vegetables for added nutrition, you could just add some peas and carrots but if you can get kids to eat Lima beans without their knowledge, I say go for it. It's like a one-two punch, they actually eat them and you get the satisfaction of seeing them eating them after they whine and cry that they hate them so much. |
Now the crust. I would never ask anyone to make they're own unless you're some kind of masochist and if that's the case, torture yourself away. I just buy the pre-made stuff to save time and also my sanity. I like to use a regular pie crust for the bottom and puff pastry for the top. |
Preheat your oven to 425' 1. Ok, the first thing you need to do is get your chicken ready. Since you didn't buy any boneless chicken at the store because you knew you had some in the freezer, go ahead and get it out the second you remember you forgot to take it out and now you've got to quickly defrost it or you won't be eating until 8. When you get your chicken out, realize that you don't actually have any boneless, all you've got is bone in. Stand in front of your fancy microwave and try and figure out how exactly to make it defrost. That things got more buttons than the cockpit of the space shuttle. Once you figure that out, de-bone freezing cold raw chicken. You can put some warm water in the sink to plunge your hands into when you can no longer feel them. Make sure and stop and wash your hands before you help whatever kid needs help with whatever they need help with. When you've got it de-boned, cut it into bite sized pieces, season with salt and pepper and your favorite chicken seasoning, sage, thyme, lemon pepper, poultry seasoning, whatever floats your boat. |
Now stir fry it in a pan big enough to fit all of the ingredients pictured above except for the crust, that's not going into the actual pan, until you think it's pretty much cooked. When chicken is throughly cooked, it feels like the heel of your hand when it's all the way open but I just taste it. It hasn't killed me yet. |
2. While your chicken is cooking cut up our non bagged vegetables. Make sure you cut the celery and onions small or DeWitte will pick them out. While your cutting up your fourth potato, decide that three's enough so eat the other one with some salt. What can I say, I've never met a raw vegetable I didn't like and I'm Irish. |
Anyway, this stuff tastes like fresh garlic. You can find it in nicer grocery store so I try and pick up a couple whenever I got. My grocery store would never carry something this handy. |
3. Now is when you add the flour. No darn well you aren't going to measure out 12 TBS. of flour so yell into the living room and ask how many tablespoons are in a cup. Discount the 8 answers that seem smart ass and settle for the one that sounds reasonable. It's 3/4 of a cup. Stir it in and let it cook for about three min. unless you like your food tasting like paste. |
4. Add the chicken broth slowly, stirring until smooth in between. I know that they always show them pouring it all in on the cooking shows but whenever I do that I just get a big lump. |
5. Now add the half and half but don't let it boil! I'm not sure how they do that on TV, either, whenever I let it boil it curdles. It still tastes the same but then the kids say "Eww, why does this look funny!" and then you've got to convince them that it tastes just fine and that's a conversation I'd rather just not have. |
6. Add the chicken back in and the bag of mixed vegetables and heat throughly..but not to boiling. Now tastes it and add salt and pepper if you need to. |
7. Get a couple pie pans and add your bottom crust. (I should add that you need to follow the directions on the package for thawing and stuff before you get started...see that's why I told you to read this thing first!) Spread the filling evenly between the two and top with puff pastry and if I see you even try and cut that pastry to fit, I'll take away your licence to cook. That's the best part, just fold corners into the middle. Kind of squish the edges together so it doesn't bubble all over inside your oven, you know what a pain it is to clean the oven. Put some slits in the top so that steam can escape, if you think dripping filling is bad, an explosion would be a disaster. Say bye bye to your Saturday and hello to the Easy Off cleaner. |
8. Cook in a 425' oven for about 30 min. but start to watch it after about 20, every oven is different. I've learned that through experience, nothing worse than a burned up pot pie. |
| 9. When it looks like this, it's done. |
You should let it sit for 15 or 20 min. but after 15 or 20 min. around here, this is what you're gonna see. Make sure and stash a piece away for yourself for lunch the next day, it's even better. |
So, I would never recommend making a dish like this every day, unless you have some kind of personal vendetta against your arteries, but if you want a real crowd pleaser, you really can't beat chicken pot pie, well, unless your a vegetarian, then I don't know what to tell you. Maybe tofu instead but Bye Bye Tofu Pot Pie just doesn't have the same ring. |
Comments
You really need to write a cookbook or have a cooking show......you just tell is like it really is! LOL!
Your process cooking sounds similiar to me baking! :p
btw- I love the way you told how to make this, too funny!!! You need a web-cam like Dewitte said!!!