Chicken Pot Pie
Use store-bought crusts or make your own pie crust if you prefer. I like a thick filling; add more liquid for a thinner sauce.
Use store-bought crusts or make your own pie crust if you prefer. I like a thick filling; add more liquid for a thinner sauce.
- 1/3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 6 tablespoons butter divided
- 2 medium leeks light green and white part only, washed and thinly sliced
- 2 medium carrots peeled and sliced
- 1 large celery rib diced
- 3/4 teaspoons dried thyme
- 4 ounces mushrooms sliced
- 2 1/2 cups chicken stock
- 3 cups chicken breast cooked and shredded
- 1/2 cups frozen peas
- 2 frozen pie crusts 9 inch
- Carbohydrate 59.9335829165418 g
- Cholesterol 115.048958368797 mg
- Fat 38.7166139208208 g
- Fiber 3.3667803888055 g
- Protein 36.0087383568465 g
- Saturated Fat 17.9548283680973 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (499g)
- Sodium 789.615236915879 mg
- Sugar 56.5668025277363 g
- Trans Fat 3.44707998258653 g
- Calories 735 calories
Step-by-step
- Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the leek, carrot, celery and thyme; season with salt and pepper. Cook until the vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes. Remove them to a plate.
- Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in the saucepan. Add the mushrooms; season with salt. Cook until the mushrooms are browned and their liquids have evaporated, about 8 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the plate with the vegetables.
- Add the remaining 4 tablespoons butter to the saucepan. After it stops foaming, add the flour, whisking constantly, for 2 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and the heavy cream, whisking to prevent lumps. Continue to cook, stirring constantly from the bottom of the pot to prevent sticking, until the mixture becomes quite thick and boils, about 5 minutes.
- Add in the reserved mushrooms and vegetables and their accumulated juices, the cooked chicken, and the peas. Stir to combine. Spread out onto a sheet pan to cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Place one crust in the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Fill with the cooled filling. Top with the other crust. Pinch to seal; cut steam vents and bake in the oven until the filling bubbles through the steam vents, 50 to 60 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes before cutting and serving.
Pouring hot, steaming filling directly into pie pastry guarantees a soggy bottom crust because the residual heat melts the shortening or butter before the dough hits the oven. British working-class cooks developed enclosed meat pies in the nineteenth century primarily as portable, durable rations, using thick pastry walls to preserve the contents without refrigeration. Achieving that structural integrity at home requires managing moisture at every stage of preparation.
Building the Sauce and Foundation
Cook the leeks, carrots, celery, and thyme over medium heat for approximately 10 minutes until the cellular walls soften and release their moisture. Sauté the sliced mushrooms separately until browned and their liquid completely evaporates, which concentrates their umami compounds. When making the velouté base, cook the flour and butter roux for precisely two minutes to eliminate the raw starch flavor before whisking in chicken stock and heavy cream. Spreading the completed filling onto a sheet pan cools it rapidly before it touches the pastry.
- If the sauce seems too thick, adjust the consistency by whisking in warm chicken stock two tablespoons at a time.
- Bake the assembled pie at 375 degrees Fahrenheit until active bubbling appears through the steam vents, requiring 50 to 60 minutes.
- Allow the baked pie to rest undisturbed for 15 minutes to let the starch network set the slice shape.
