Chicken Pot Pie

When it rained again all day Saturday, this seemed like the perfect comfort food. I've never made pot pie before and I thought the ingredients in this recipe looked reasonable. When my brother in law turned down our dinner invitation, my husband's comment was "you really missed out." I have to admit, they turned out pretty great!

The original recipe calls for a whole chicken and making your own stock when you cook it but I took a short cut and bought a rotisserie chicken. It also has the recipe for making your own dough topping but I'm a big fan of puff pastry and used that instead. Just remember to thaw the puff pastry ahead of time! Check out Elise's recipe on Simply Recipes - the first food blog I ever regularly read.

If you don't have big enough ramekins, look around for what else you can use. I have these 2 cup (16oz) pyrex glass storage dishes (with lids) that are oven safe and used those. I only made two but we had a little extra filling (for the little girl) and you can easily double it for 4 or look at Elise's proportions (double and smaller ramekins) for 6. And, here's a bonus: If your husband is 45 minutes later than he said he'd be for dinner, the filling will still be very warm and the crust won't be soggy yet.

Chicken Pot Pie (2 servings)

For the filling:
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/2 c. diced onion
1 1/2 carrots, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 1/2 celery stalks, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1/2 baking potato, diced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 c. chicken stock or broth
3/4 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 T dry sherry
1/3 cup green peas, frozen or fresh
1 1/2 c. cooked chopped chicken
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the crust:
1/2 package (1 sheet) frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, whisked with 1 T water

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large skillet, melt butter on medium heat. Add the onions, carrots, celery and potato, and cook until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring, one minute more. Whisk in 1 1/4 cups of the chicken stock. Whisk in the milk. Add the chicken meat, thyme, sherry, peas, salt and pepper and stir well.



Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring often. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Divide the filling among 2 ramekins, leaving about 1/2 inch of space at the top of the dish. Cut two rounds from the puff pastry, just bigger than your dishes, and cut a 1 inch vent in the top. Put it on the top of the ramekin and use fork tines to press it against the edge. Brush with your egg/water mixture.



Place the ramekins on a baking sheet (one of mine leaked a little) and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly and the crust is golden brown. Cool 10 minutes before eating.