Pumpkins, and apples, and pot pies, oh my!

There is a reason comfort food is synonymous with the word “classic.” Chicken pot pie IS a classic and it is definitely at the top of my comfort food favorites for Fall. Yes, even in 98 degrees.

This is an awesome dish to prepare during the week and you might even want to double up on the recipe so you can freeze one for later. Just don’t add the puff pastry until you’re ready to use it if you are freezing one.

There are SO many ways you can make this dish your own and really put your own families spin on it. Don’t like peas? Great, omit them. Add green beans. Love mushrooms? Awesome, add them!! Don’t like meat? Go meatless and up your veggies! Don’t want a crust on top? Use pie crust instead. You can do it all!

I found a recipe from Pilsbury for the basics. I needed to know the ratio for butter to flour to liquid for my roux. Then I went rogue, which is often what I do. I am always doing a fridge or pantry clean out. I think it’s helpful to just use whatever you imagine can work with the recipes you’re using. It’s also a good pivotal point if you don’t have certain ingredients to just figure out what to use on hand, that way you’re not buying too many items at the grocery store, or letting other items you have at home go to waste.

Ingredients

• 2-3 cooked shredded chicken breasts
• 2 cups cooked vegetables (I used steam in bag mixed veggies, some frozen peas, and a handful of leftover baby potatoes)
• 2 carrots thinly sliced
• 2 celery stalks thinly sliced
• half a large onion diced
• couple large pinches of thyme or parsley (thyme tastes like Fall to me 😀 )
• Salt & Pepper
• Olive Oil
• 1/3c Butter (about 6 tablespoons)
• 1/3c Flour
• 1/2c milk
• 1 and 3/4c chicken broth/stock
• 2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

For my cooked chicken, I used the slow cooker. I like to batch cook more than I need so I have extra chicken for the week. In a HOT cast iron pan, I seared the chicken on all sides using olive oil, salt, pepper, and some of the thyme. Once browned on all sides, I simply added it to the slow cooker on low for 4-6 hours in some chicken broth. You can easily make the chicken in advance and use at your leisure. Or skip this step altogether, save some time, and buy a rotisserie chicken as well! Whatever works!

Making the Pot Pie

Next, in my dutch oven I sautéed the carrots, celery, and onion (mirepoix) until tender in a large drizzle of olive oil over medium heat. I added in the thyme, salt, and some pepper. When tender (about 7-10 mins) I added the butter until melted and then the flour. Mix well and evenly for a minute or two in order to cook down the flavor of the flour. Then I slowly added my liquids, the milk and chicken broth. For added flavor, I saved the chicken juices/broth from the slow cooker and used that!

I continued stirring until thick and bubbly. This happens quickly! Don’t leave your pot. Depending on how “gooey” you want your chicken pot pie, you can easily add more butter, flour, and liquid. This is my favorite part of the pot pie.

Home Stretch

Once my sauce was thickened, I added the rest of my veggies to the mirepoix. For me, I had remnants of leftover vegetables from the “steam in bag” side dishes and some baby roasted potatoes that I quartered. I used a mixed veggie, as well as, peas. Use whatever you have on hand. Whether it be fresh, frozen, or canned, it all taste delicious under some crust!

Now time to assemble. I used a 13 x 9 baking dish to spread out my pie filling. You can use two pie pans or two 8 x 8 pans as well. Honestly, in hindsight I would have used two dishes instead. That way I would have one easily ready to just reheat the next day! Silly me. Anyways, spread the filling evenly and top with your thawed puff pastry. I used some cookie cutters to make fun shapes to appeal to our toddler who sometimes seems to only live off of air and not yummy food we spend time and effort making. P.S. it worked!

You can use any store bought dough, pie crust, biscuits, mashed potatoes, or whatever you can dream of to top your pie. I personally just love puff pastry. You can also add an egg wash to make it nice and golden and to keep it crunchy…especially for leftovers.

I baked our pie 425 degrees for 20-25 mins. Remember, your filling is all cooked so you’re really just making sure your dough is cooked through. We enjoyed this classic comfort dish alongside a simple mixed green salad and it was SO good. You can never go wrong with a comfort food dish like this. I can’t wait to make it again!