Well, this is certainly a mundane post to follow the last about Paris. We’ve been home for more than a month, and I’ve been in the doldrums. But I’ve been cooking!
A steaming plateful of chicken (or turkey), gravy, vegetables, and bites of crispy crust is the ultimate comfort food for me. When I began to cook, this is one of the first dishes I learned to make. I rarely use a recipe. But the last chicken pot pie I made was so delicious, I am inspired to share my … um … recipe.
We could debate one crust or two; chicken or turkey; pie dough or puff pastry or biscuits; mushrooms or not. IMHO putting a bottom crust on these is problematic. It usually ends up soggy. Besides, if you only put a crust on the top, you’re halving the crust calories.
Alton Brown makes this dish with a puff pastry topping. He cuts the pastry into squares and perches them not-quite-touching atop the filling. They bake up crispy and nice. I prefer a biscuit crust, applied Alton-Brown-style.
And mushrooms – I’m in, but wild mushrooms, please, or maybe fresh shiitakes. Turkey or chicken -- I'll take either.
But this year Thanksgiving came and went, and the turkey leftovers disappeared quickly. (New sandwich – turkey with cranberry chutney, blue cheese and crispy lettuce.) No turkey pot pie.
So one fine day, hungering for pot pie, I bought a chicken. We did it butt-chicken style on the grill, and I commandeered the leftovers for chicken pot pie and the bones and innards for stock. And this particular pie, I believe, was the best one ever.
I read a couple of recipes to glean some new ideas, and then this is what I did:
Ingredients
For the filling:
6 c. stock (I used chicken and duck)
Kosher salt to taste
5 medium carrots, peeled and cut into ½” rounds
1 large Yukon gold potato in ½” dice
1 c. frozen peas
2 medium shallots, sliced thin
1 c. mixed dried wild mushrooms
4 c. cooked chicken, in bite-sized chunks
6 T. unsalted butter
6 T. flour
Dried rosemary, thyme, and sage
For the biscuit topping:
1 ¾ c. flour
1 t. kosher salt
1 ¾ t. baking powder
5 ½ T. unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small cubes
½ c. plus 2 T. buttermilk, more if needed
The doing:
Prepare the biscuit topping. You can do this in a food processor or by hand. We tend to use a pastry blender and fingers. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for at least an hour. We also do the faux buttermilk thing (1 T. white vinegar or lemon juice to 1 c. milk, let stand 5 minutes).
Cover the mushrooms with boiling water and soak at least 20 minutes.
Bring the stock to a simmer on the stovetop, and season to taste with salt. Add the carrots; simmer 6 minutes. Add the potatoes; simmer 8 minutes more. Add the frozen peas; simmer for an additional 3 minutes. Vegetables should be almost done, but still firm. Using a skimmer, dip the vegetables out of the stock and hold them in a bowl.
Return the broth to the stove and keep it warm.
Melt butter in a non-stick pan. Add the shallots, sprinkle with a bit of salt, and cook over low heat until soft and beginning to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Using a skimmer, dip the shallots out of the pan and hold them with the cooked vegetables.
Add flour to the butter, and cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, for about 10 minutes. The resulting roux should be a light golden-brown color. Whisk in the warm stock. Simmer, stirring often, for about 10 more minutes. Sprinkle with sage, thyme, and rosemary to taste. Adjust seasonings with salt, pepper and additional herbs to taste.
Remove the mushrooms from soaking liquid and chop coarsely. Pour most of the soaking liquid into the gravy, being careful not to pour any of the mushroom sediment.
Add reserved vegetables, mushrooms, and chicken to the gravy. Bring to a low simmer, then keep warm.
Preheat oven to 425 F.
Roll or pat out the biscuit dough on a flat surface, and cut into roughly 2” squares.
Pour the warm filling into a lightly oiled 9” x 13” glass baking dish. Perch the biscuit squares on top. Bake 20-25 minutes, until biscuits are nicely brown.
That’s it, folks. Oh, I had a bit of leftover broccoli, so I cut it up into small chunks and stirred it in as well. Best … chicken … pot … pie … ever ... until the next one!
