Seasonal Sunday: Chicken Pot Pie and Pie Crust Recipe

I am revisiting an old favorite that I posted last fall. This time with pictures. I heart this recipe and bust it out every fall and winter. It's an easy enough recipe because the filling can be as simple as a rotisserie chicken, frozen vegetables and condensed cream soup. It can also be more of a work of art if you make the crust, roast the chicken and make the cream of chicken soup. Depending on my mood I switch it up. Either route you take will make your belly happy. And if you are laughing at the thought of making your own cream soup....it is really easy and soooo much better than that stuff in the can. Don't get me wrong, the stuff in the can has a place in my home.

Chicken Pot Pie  (from Our Best Bites)

Go get it:

1 lb. cooked, cubed chicken (I prefer to roast mine, but you could boil it in a pinch.)

1 16 oz. bag frozen mixed vegetables

1 medium onion, minced

2 cans cream of chicken soup (or make your own)

5 medium red potatoes, diced

butter

salt and pepper to taste

unbaked double pie crust (one of my fave pie crust recipes from Christopher Kimball/Cooks Illustrated below)

Go make it:

Have your pie crust made a few hours before you start this recipe. I advise you to start your crusts and then bake your chicken after your pie crusts are being chilled. You can skip this step by purchasing premade pie crusts and a cooked deli chicken from the store.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until fork tender.

3. Saute onion in butter until translucent.
4. In a medium size bowl mix together frozen veggies and cream of chicken soup. Stir in cubed chicken and onion. Add salt and pepper to your liking. I omitted salt due to the high salt content in the condensed soup.
5. Roll out pie crust discs and place the larger of the two in the bottom of your pie plate.

6. Fill crust with chicken/vegetable mixture. Place the other pie crust on top and crimp shut. Slice vent holes in top.
7. Bake for 45 minutes or until crust is golden in color.

Foolproof Pie Dough (Cooks Illustrated, November 2007)

Makes one 9-inch double-crust pie (fits my 10" sort of deep dish pie plate just fine)

Go get it:

2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons sugar*
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/2 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into small bits
1/4 cup cold vodka
1/4 cup cold water

Go make it:

1. Process 1 1/2 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup of flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Or my other go to pie crust recipe if the use of vodka totally weirds you out.....

Foolproof Food Processor Pie Crust (from The Dessert Bible by Christopher Kimball)



Go Get it:

10 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
10 tablespoons cold shortening
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar (I omit the sugar in this recipe for my pot pie)
8 to 10 tablespoons water (I used a full 10)

Go make it:

1. Cut butter into small cubes. Freeze for 15 minutes. Mix flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor. Place spoonfuls of shortening along with butter cubes. Pulse until dough appears slightly yellow and pebbly in texture. Check dough after every couple of pulses. Put mixture into a medium size bowl.

2. Sprinkle 5 tablespoons of water over the mixture (do not do this in your food processor). With a spatula fold mixture over and press down on broad end of spatula. Do this until dough stick together adding up to 5 more tablespoons. I do this using my KitchenAid stand mixer instead of by hand. Dough should be very wet and sticky. Better to have too much water than too little. Shape dough into a ball. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into two smaller sections. One should be larger than the other (the bottom crust is larger). Flatten into discs and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to one hour before rolling.