This is a pretty easy chicken pot pie recipe. I refuse to resort to cream of chicken or mushroom soup in my dishes, so you will need to make the white sauce, but trust me you can do it.
Every weekend I have been trying to put together a meal for my boyfriend’s elderly uncle who we really want to fatten up a bit. Since he’s in his late 80’s, his tastes tend to lean toward the simple, meat and potato fare. I had a feeling Chicken Pot Pie would be right up his alley, and since I had never made it, a fun experiment as well. The results were stick to your ribs, comfort food perfection and quite pretty as you can see. I used Pillsbury Crescent rounds for the crust so no need to bother with making pie crust.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 celery stalks, sliced
2 carrots peeled and cut into coins
1 russet potato, peeled and cubed into 1/2 in. cubes
2 cups precooked chicken, shredded or cubed
1 Tbs. fresh Thyme chopped
1/2 tsp. Herbs de Provence
1 cup fresh or frozen green beans
3/4 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen pearl onions
2 1/2 cups chicken broth, preferably home made
2 tsp. salt
pepper to taste
2 tubes of Pillsbury Crescent Rounds
1 egg
White Sauce:
4 Tbs. butter
1/4 Cup all purpose flour
2 cups whole milk (I’ve used skim which works fine too)
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of grated nutmeg
DIRECTIONS
Cut and chop all veggies.
In dutch oven, saute onion, celery and carrots in 2 – 3 Tbs. of Olive Oil until tender, approximately 15 minutes. Add potato and thyme. Saute 2 minutes then add chicken stock and 1 tsp salt. Boil until potato is tender, approximately 15 more minutes. After 10 minutes of potatoes cooking, add peas, green beans and pearl onions. (note: if using fresh green beans, be sure to boil in advance and shock in cold water.) Stir in cooked chicken and take off heat. (Hint: if using a pre-cooked roaster chicken from the store, heat in microwave if cold for 2 minutes. Shred chicken into bowl and pour juices from cooking dish onto the shredded pieces. They will soak up the juices like a sponge.)
Melt 4 Tbsp. butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 1/4 cup flour; whisk constantly until mixture begins to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Slowly pour in milk; continue whisking until mixture thickens, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in cayenne, nutmeg, and 1 tsp. salt and 1/4 tsp. black pepper. Remove from heat; let cool slightly.
Putting Things Together
Add white sauce to mixture in dutch oven and simmer on low for 5 minutes. Spoon with a ladle into oven safe dishware. I used several different sizes. One personal size dish and two dishes slightly larger. You could use one 8 x 8 Pyrex dish.
Bake mixture at 375 degrees without crust for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and carefully (its hot) top mixture with Pillsbury Crescent Rounds, unwound and then carefully placed to follow the contours of your dish until you cover mixture. I’m sorry I didn’t take a picture of the before. Don’t worry if it’s ugly, the baked result is very pretty. You can also just put the rolls on the mixture without unwinding them, like you see in the picture above. The only problem is that I don’t think they cook as well, a little doughy inside but tops are browned. If this happens, put foil over top and continue to bake 10 more minutes.
Brush crescent rolls with egg wash and return to oven. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes more or until crust is golden brown and your mixture is bubbling. Remove from oven and let stand for 10 minutes before serving.
NOTES: I have made this with broccoli instead of green beans, and it is very good. Steam the broccoli before adding. I have also used ready made pie crust in place of the crescent rolls which was excellent too.
