Chicken Pot Pie

This is a pie (and pie crust) I can get behind! My friend Jenny first made this recipe for "Grammy's Chicken Pot Pie" from the Simply Classic cookbook for Curtis and me before we were married and it became one of our favorite recipes. Then we had it for dinner the night we got engaged so we associate it with good memories.

It's a little different every time I make it but what really makes this dish is the cream cheese crust. In fact, until now, I've never thought about using this crust recipe for a fruit pie, but I bet it would be awesome.

I made a massive batch of filling, throwing in lots of extra veggies and four crusts so I could share chicken pot pie with my frozen dinner club (or OAMC - once-a-month cooking as Hillary likes to call it) this month.

Uncooked pot pies ready to go in the freezer to share

The original recipe has you cook a whole chicken resulting in homemade stock and chicken for the pot pie. I'm sure that's fabulous, but I cheat (and always have) and just use Costco roast chickens and Kirkland signature chicken broth to keep it simple. 

GRAMMY'S CHICKEN POT PIE
from Simply Classic, The Junior League of Seattle cookbook

Pastry
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 large egg

Filling
1 3-pound chicken, shredded into large chunks
4 tablespoons butter
1 onion, diced
1 1/2 cups celery, diced
Fresh veggies (this time I added a sweet potato, zucchini, green beans and bell pepper but garlic, corn, broccoli and potatoes are also good)
6 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups carrots, thinly sliced 
1 10-ounce package frozen peas
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 box chicken stock 

Chilling time 2 hours. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

For Pastry: combine flour, butter and cream cheese in food processor (I used my Kitchen Aid dough hook). Pulse on/off several times to form coarse crumbs. Add egg and process until dough forms a ball. Wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours. (Pasty dough may be made up to three days in advance and kept in the refrigerator, or it may be frozen until ready to use.)

For Filling: In a large saucepan, melt butter, add onion, celery and carrots (and any other veggies you're throwing in). Saute over medium heat for 10 minutes. Add flour, salt and pepper. Cook about 5 minutes, stirring constantly to make a roux. Slowly pour in chicken stock, stirring to make a smooth gravy. Cook until thickened, about 8 minutes. Add chicken, peas and thyme. Cook another 5 minutes or so. Pour into a deep pie dish or round casserole, about 9 inches in diameter.

On a lightly floured board, roll pastry into a 10-inch round. Using a decorative cookie cutter, cut a shape from the center of pastry round. Lay pastry over the filling, fold edges under and crimp firmly against rim of dish. For decoration, moisten the bottom of the pastry cut-out and place it next to space from which it was cut.

Place pie on a baking dish sheet and bake on the lowest rack of preheated oven for 45 minutes, until pastry is golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool for 10 minutes before serving.