email this pageWe’ve been so distracted by itsy-bitsy portions of nouvelle cuisine, low-carb spaghetti and convenience food, we’ve almost forgotten what good food is all about. Chicken Pot Pie, for instance, might not have an exciting ring to it, but it brings us back to culinary earth. “Chicken Pot Pie is great comfort food,” says Michael Stern, who with his wife, Jane, has spent the last 25 years eating his way across the blue highways of the country.
In Connecticut, where Stern lives, farm wives sell individual two-crusted chicken pies filled with a sort of chicken hash but no vegetables or gravy. “Gravy is sold separately,” says Stern, “and the pies are filling.” But these pies are not what most people have in mind when they think Chicken Pot Pie.
Although there are probably as many versions of Chicken Pot Pie as there are cooks who make them, every recipe is a combination of chicken, vegetables, sauce and a doughy top. Southerners cover their pies with biscuits and New Englanders use pastry, but underneath them all is a wonderfully old-fashioned filling.
A good Chicken Pot Pie is not complicated, but it takes time. For cooks in a hurry, there are shortcuts. Canned broth can be substituted for homemade stock, leftover or store-bought cooked chicken can be used instead of a start-from-scratch uncooked bird, and frozen peas can be added without thawing. You can even skip the pastry and serve the filling over noodles or rice or even a piece of toast. It will taste fine, but it won’t be Chicken Pot Pie.
Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
½ cup diced onion
½ cup diced celery
1 (8-ounce) package sliced mushrooms (about 3 cups)
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can lower sodium chicken broth
1 1/4 cups 2 percent low-fat milk
1/3 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
3 cups (1 pound) cooked chopped chicken
½ (15-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
2. Remove from heat; stir in parsley, thyme, salt, pepper, peas and chicken. Spoon into 13-by-9-by-2-inch baking dish or shallow 3-quart casserole dish.
3. On a lightly floured surface, roll pie dough to about 1-inch larger than baking dish. Place over top of filling; fold edges under to make a hem and press down with fork. Cut vents on top and brush with glaze. Bake 40 minutes or until golden brown. Serves 8.
By Jean Kressy, "Relish the American Table," January 29, 2006
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