Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Chicken Pot Pie

Crust:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp salt
cold water

Put butter, flour, and salt in a medium size bowl. Cut flour into the butter with a pastry blender or two forks. Add cold water, a little at a time until you are able to make the dough into a ball. Handle the dough as little as possible and don't get it too wet. Wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge until you're ready to assemble the pie. I like to make the crust a few hours ahead of time to cut down on prep right at dinner. (This is for a single crust pie. Double it if you want a bottom crust.)

Sauce:
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup butter
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried sage, marjoram, or thyme, crushed
1/8 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken broth
3/4 cup milk

In a saucepan cook onion in butter till tender. Stir in flour, salt, sage, marjoram, or thyme; and pepper. Add chicken broth and milk all at once. Cook and stir till thick and bubbly. (Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.)

Filling:
1 cup cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
1 potato, parboiled and cubed
1 carrot, diced
1/3 cup corn
1/2 cup green beans or 1/3 cup peas (or both)
(or 1 cup of frozen mixed vegetables)

Method:
Add filling to sauce and spoon into pie plate.
Roll out crust on floured surface. Place on top of pie filling and seal edges. Using a fork, make several holes in the crust for steam to vent. Bake at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown.