Pot Pies
Once you get the idea behind a pot pie and you find a crust you love, the possibilities are endless. I recommend learning how to make a good butter – shortening combo crust because it can be used for fruit pies as well. Otherwise, if you buy a crust, get the sheets rather than the ones in a tin, because you’ll need a top and a bottom.
If making an individual pot pie, you can afford to make the filling looser, as with a traditional Chicken Pot Pie. However, if you’re making a large pie to be sliced eventually, then make sure your filling is not at all soupy.
Ingredients
- Pie crust, enough for the top and bottom
- Roasted meat, such as chicken or leftover turkey. Alternatively you can omit meat altogether*
- 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
- 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
- 3 celery stalked, cleaned and chopped
- ½ cup frozen peas
- Optional additional veggie ideas- cubed, roasted sweet potatoes or squash, chopped spinach or kale, Cremini mushrooms, tiny white onions
- ½ stick salted butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme
- Pinch of dried sage
- Salt and pepper
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. If using chicken, use skin-on breasts on the bone, rub with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast 45 minutes. Allow to cool and remove meat from bone and skin from meat. You can also buy a rotisserie chicken already cooked and pull off the meat and chop. For turkey, this is a great use of leftovers.
Heat the butter in a high sided frying pan over medium heat until bubbly. Add the onions, carrots and celery and any other uncooked veggie like mushrooms. Sauté until starting to get a little golden- don’t undercook in this case.
Add the flour and stir to coat veggies. Add the stock and stir until it thickens. Add the chopped meat and any other cooked veggies like roasted potatoes or peas. Season with herbs and salt and pepper.
Line a pie plate with half the dough and pour in the filling. Cover with the other half completely and prick the top. Alternatively, butter 4 medium sized ramekins, add filling to each evenly and cover only the top with dough, hanging it over the sides.
Bake for one hour or until golden brown. Remove from over and let stand ten minutes before serving.
*I like to peel and cube sweet potatoes and par boil them for 20 minutes. Then I toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper and spread out on a cookie sheet and roast at 375 degrees for around 45 minutes, or until crispy
