Chicken Pot Pie
Tuesday, June 30, 2020
One of my fondest childhood food memories was opening the freezer to have the feelings of Christmas come over me because my had decided to buy Banquet Pot Pies. Chicken was always my favorite, with turkey in second and beef would sit until I absolutely had to eat something. Having no patience waiting 45 minutes at 400° for them to cook. Cooking two at a time, to make a plate full of meat and vegetables all swimming in salty chickenish gravy. Only to burn my tongue on the first bite but then still searching for a way to cool it down sooner then it took to cook it. Always trying to find the perfect balance of crust to gravy mixture. Seriously, who doesn't like chicken pot pie? In this recipe Rotisserie chicken, store-bought puff pastry, and just one skillet keep this adult version from feeling too fussy—or taking all day to make. Some side notes, the vegetables in the recipes are just what I chose when I made it. Use this recipe to clean out the vegetable drawer as the gravy replaces putting cheese on it, so your kid will eat it. Also if you've never worked with frozen puff pastry, you will need to let it thaw overnight in the fridge. This part is a must, since to trying to work with it frozen will never work out. Lastly, the ingredients call for a Rotisserie chicken to make things easier, though feel free to just roast the chicken ahead of time and then shred the meat. Enjoy!
Ingredients
1 Rotisserie chicken
2 medium yellow onions, diced
1 turnip, peeled and ¼" diced
2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 sprigs thyme leaves, fresh
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
1 tsp. black pepper, freshly ground
3 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 cup dry white wine
2 cups heavy cream
1 4-oz. box puff pastry, thawed overnight
Instructions
Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 400°.
Remove the skin the chicken, then shred the meat into bite size pieces, set aside. Keep the bones and carcass to make a rich chicken broth for future use. Or sling them into a saucepan, cover with water, add the ends from the vegetables, and you've got the makings of a couple decent quarts of chicken stock.
Melt the butter in a 12" cast-iron skillet, over medium-high heat, making sure to run the butter along the sides to prevent sticking.
Add the onions to skillet and cook until they are very soft but not browned. About 5 minutes.
Add the remaining vegetables, along with the garlic and thyme leaves. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt and black pepper. Cook, stirring often, until the vegetables begin to soften. About 3 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour over the vegetable mixture. Stir until the flour begins to stick to the bottom of the pan. About 30 seconds.
Add 1 cup wine and cook, stirring constantly making sure to scrape the bottom to release any of the flour that may be stuck to the bottom and to burn off some of the alcohol, about 1 minute.
Set aside 1 Tbsp. of the heavy cream. Add the remaining cream into the skillet, along with the chicken. Bring to a simmer. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
Cook mixture until warmed thoroughly. About 3 minutes.
Transferred skillet to a rimmed sheetpan.
On floured surface, rolled out the puff pastry so that it can cover the skillet with a bit of an overhang. Most store bought puff pastry comes in two pieces. I typically stack one on top of the other and then roll out the combined piece of dough to the size I need.
Roll pastry up onto a floured rolling pin. (You could use an empty wine bottle if you don't have a rolling pin.) Unfurl pastry from rolling pin, draping it over skillet.
Trim pastry so that there is a 1" border all around. Fold edge of puff pastry under itself. If you want to get fancy crimp the edges with a fork.
Using a pastry brush, brush top of pastry with reserved cream. Cut 5–6 small slits in the center so steam can escape.
Bake the chicken pot pie until crust is light golden brown, 22–24 minutes.
Open the oven to reduce oven temperature to 350° and continue to bake until filling is bubbling around the edges and crust is well browned, 25–35 minutes longer. Let sit 10 minutes before serving. Side note, at this ending baking stage, be sure to watch your pot pie to make sure you don't burn the crust.
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