Clements Kitchen Chronicles: Chicken Pot Pie
If you have been reading along then chronologically you know my last CKC post was about pizza. After pizza, this chicken pot pie recipe lands in the heavy hitter column. Meaning, it looks like a lot of work and the end product looks delicious so some may bow out before trying. However Marie Calendar’s frozen pies got NOTHIN on this recipe and anyone can make it. Promise! The homemade-ness, again, should not be feared! Yes, it does take some prepping and time but many confuse time for complexity and difficulty. They aren’t the same, my friends.
Before diving into pot pie details, there is some important business to address. While the pie was baking in the oven, I was washing some dishes and realized I was singing, “chicken pot pie and I don’t lie.” I was convinced this had to be from some song, but after extensive searching (five minutes of google rabbit holes) I came up with nothing. And everything! There is no song with those lyrics, I’m pretty sure I made it up BUT there is a Weird Al Yankovic song entitled “Chicken Pot Pie” to the tune of Paul McCartney’s “Live and Let Die”.
You are welcome. Lucas says he’ll never be able to listen to “Live and Let Die'' the same way and I truly hope the same for you. Okay enough serious business. This recipe, you guessed it, was another Covid acquaintance that became a fast friend. There are shortcuts you can take so you can still enjoy this goodness even in the midst of busier weeks or seasons. This is incredibly satisfying and the best part, the leftovers are even better than the first day. It’s like chili, the longer it sits the better it tastes. My point is yes, it does take some time but you get it back later in the week when you are downing delicious leftovers for breakfast/lunch/dinner. (Yes, I cooked an egg and ate it on top of a warmed slice of this pie in the morning. I believe in living your best life.)
There are two pretty quick and obvious short cuts that make for an equally superb pie: rotisserie chicken and store bought pie dough. Sometimes I cut corners with both or just one. Usually it’s the pie dough if I’m honest. This time around I had Lucas pick up a rotisserie chicken from Costco that he processed a few nights before I made the pie. I did however make the dough from scratch the night before to allow the butter to chill for over 12 hours. Store bought dough is fine. But it’s just that, fine. I always forget how gorgeously golden, flaky and buttery the crust can be when made from scratch. Last observation I’ve had is that store bought dough doesn’t seem to last as well in the fridge when digging into the leftovers, but this may be overly critical of me.
Basically this recipe is broken down into three steps, well four, but the fourth is putting frozen peas in the almost fully assembled pie. You have your dough, pick your adventure of store bought or homemade. Secondly is cooking, in this case boiling chicken, carrots and celery for 12 minutes. Third, is your gravy-like sauce which is the cornerstone of the pie. You essentially make a roux with caramelized onions and then you add cream, pepper and delicious herbs. It’s fantastic for the fall or winter, your home and its occupants will thank you. The aroma from your oven alone will induce happy dancing.
After the sauce is ready, you assemble your pie and add your frozen peas before adding your top crust. I add frozen corn as well because it’s another friendly face for the kids to see when they dig into the pie. We are all for acclimating foreign foods with familiar foods, being little and eating is tough y’all.
The pie bakes for a little over half an hour, enough time to do some dishes and toss a salad together. In theory you could make a salad, I have not. For some reason I have given up on salad since having kids. I was the queen of tossed salads pre-kids because well, that’s a post for another day.
This is a humble show stopper, great for when hosting a game night with friends or if you need to bring a dish to a potluck, or in our case have a happy stocked fridge for the week. I promise you will not be overwhelmed in the process or disappointed in the end product. We have been singing “Chicken Pot Pie” around the house this past week, I truly hope the same for you!
