Chicken Pot Pie

This is my favourite pie crust/pastry recipe. I use this pie crust recipe for sweet and savoury pies as well as individual chicken pocket pies!

Start this recipe by making the pastry as it needs to chill for a while. The pastry can even be made the night before and allowed to chill over night.

This pie crust is made easier by a food processor, if you don't have one it can be done by hand too with the aid of a fork or pastry cutter.

Filled with an easy chicken stew this makes a warm, comforting winter - or anytime - meal!



Chicken Pot Pie
As this recipe is a bit more labour intensive, I've included some step-by-step photos - If you want to view the recipe without them, click the Printable Recipe link below!

Serves 6

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cooking Time:  45 minutes
Total Time:  1 hour, 30 minutes

Printable Recipe

Ingredients
Crust:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup very cold butter, cubed
1/4 cup ice cold water

Filling:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 skin on, bone in chicken breasts
Pinch each salt and pepper 
1/4 tsp dried sage or poultry seasoning
1 onion chopped
1 stick celery chopped
1 carrot peeled and chopped
1/3 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup canned or fresh mushrooms, sliced
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp seasoning salt or to taste
egg white or beaten egg for egg wash

Directions

For Crust:

1. In the bowl of a food processor pulse together flour, sugar and salt.
2. Drop in 1 cup of very cold unsalted butter. The butter should be cut in small cubes.
3. Pulse until a 'coarse meal' forms.
4. Now add 1/4 cup of ice water and pulse again until douch forms 'chunks' in the bowl.
5. Dump dough out onto a large piece of parchment paper and arrange into two piles.
6. Press to form two discs of dough. Wrap up in the parchment paper and refrigerate for 2 hours or as long as possible.

For Filling:

1. Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Season 2 bone in, skin on chicken breasts with salt, pepper and a pinch of dry sage or poultry seasoning. Place chicken in skillet, skin side down to brown. Cover and cook, turning half way until cooked through (when poked with a fork, juices run clear) about 25 minutes.
2. Remove from pan and set aside. Reserve pan juices in skillet.
3. Chop onion, celery and carrot. Par-boil the carrot in the microwave for 3 minutes to cut down on cooking time.
4. Add onion and celery to frying pan with pan juices. Add carrot, frozen peas and mushrooms. When vegetables are cooked through, about 10 minutes, remove from pan and set aside in a large bowl.
5. Now that chicken is cool enough to handle remove skin from breasts. Remove meat from the bone and dice. Add to bowl with the veggies.
6. In same skillet, melt the 1/4 cup of butter or margarine, once melted add an equal amount of flour to make a roux. 
7. In a measuring cup, combine chicken stock and milk. Add to roux gradually, stirring to avoid lumps.  Allow to simmer and thicken over medium heat until it easily coats the back of a spoon. Stir in onion powder and seasoning salt.
8. Pour sauce over veggies and chicken in bowl and stir to combine.

To Assemble Pie:

1. Remove discs of pastry from the fridge and on a lightly floured surface, roll out. For a 9” pie plate you will need a 14” piece of rolled out pastry.
2. Once pastry is rolled out, drape gently over rolling pin and lift into pie plate. Press down into bottom of plate and trim edges.
3. Roll out top in same manner as bottom.
4. Pour filling into pie base and cover with top crust. Trim edges and press to seal with a fork. Poke “steam vents” in top of crust.
5. Brush entire top crust and edges with beaten egg or egg white.
6. Bake at 425 degrees for 35-45 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Allow to cool and set 20 minutes before cutting.