This week I made a chicken pot pie.

The original recipe is found here – Epicurious’ Chicken Pot Pie Recipe. I modified the recipe a little however, and the below recipe and steps includes the changes I made.

 

Double-crust (same as the class recipe)

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) of cold unsalted butter (an all-butter crust, instead of using shortening)

1/2 cup of cold water + 1/4 cup of vodka

 

Handmade crust, following the usual procedure. I separated the dough into two balls–one large and one small, for the top and bottom crust. Refrigerated overnight. Flattened and fit to baking pan on the day of baking, with the bottom crust in first. The pastry crust for the top – I rolled this very thin, and it turned out well because it was puffier and more flaky when it came out.

Prep time: 10-15 minutes, at least 30-60 minutes in the fridge

 

 

Chicken

1 cornish hen (1-3 pound whole chicken)

2-3 cups peeled, coarsely chopped carrots

1 large yellow onion, coarsely chopped

4-6 celery stalks, coarsely chopped

6 sprigs thyme

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon kosher (preferably) salt

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

1 tablespoon tomato paste

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place carrots and onions on a baking sheet and roast until golden brown, or what I did, which is about 30 minutes.

Place the chicken inside a large pot, breast side down, and place carrots, onion, celery into pot. Add thyme, white wine, salt, peppercorns, and 1 teaspoon tomato paste. (The Epicurious recipe holds off on the tomato paste until later, but I accidentally put it in at this step – and added another teaspoon again later – and it worked well.)

Add 8 cups of water to cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently for 10 minutes. Turn down heat to low, cover, and poach chicken until cooked through, about 40-50 minutes. Here I used a meat thermometer to check the inside temperature of the chicken to make sure it was cooked through at 45 minutes.

 

Remove chicken from pot and set aside until cool. Reserve broth. Shred meat; discard skin and bones. Set a large strainer over another smaller pot. Strain broth into clean pot. Stir in another 1 tablespoon of tomato paste. Return to medium heat and simmer, uncovered, until reduced to 5 cups, about 40 minutes.

 

Can be made 1 day ahead. Chill uncovered until cool. Cover chicken and broth separately; keep chilled. Rewarm broth before continuing.

 

Filling

1 cup 1/2 slices peeled carrots

1 cup fresh (or frozen, thawed) peas

1 cup red (purple/white) pear onions

2 cups fresh shitake mushrooms, chopped or minced

2-3 stalks celery, coarsely chopped

1 cup 1/2 red small potatoes

1/2 (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 – 3/4 cup all purpose flour

6 fresh sage leaves

4 thyme sprigs

2 sprigs rosemary

1 egg, beaten to blend

 

Cook carrots in large saucepan of boiling salted water until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a medium bowl. Add peas to saucepan, cook for about 2 minutes, transfer to bowl with carrots. Repeat with potatoes, celery, onions. Peel onions after cooked, and chop in half or 1/4. Set aside in the medium bowl.

In a large heavy saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, stirring gently. Whisk in flour, a little at a time, and whisk constantly. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking constantly, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Whisk in herbs and warm broth from chicken. Simmer for about 15 minutes, until the liquid reaches a thick consistency.

 

Add the chicken, carrots, peas, onions, mushrooms, celery, potatoes. Bring to a simmer.

This can also be made 1 day ahead. Rewarm before continuing.

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spoon filling into the pie dish. Top with the pastry cover, pinching edges to seal. If not using a pie bird (which I didn’t), cut a 1″ slit in center of crust for steam to vent. Brush pastry with beaten egg.

Place pot pie on a rimmed baking sheet (I skipped this). Bake until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 35-45 minutes.

 

 

After baking:

 

Total prep time: 220 – 330 minutes (3 hours 40 minutes – 5 hours  30 minutes). It took me about 6 hours.

Double crust – 45-90 minutes (including chill time)

Chicken and chicken/tomato stock – 95 – 120 minutes

Filling – 45-50 minutes

Pie baking – 35-50 minutes

Tagged: chicken pot pie, double crust