Food

My, My Chicken Pie

Gloomy afternoon and my meal plan designated “Chicken Pie” for today – well that worked out pretty well.
I grew up with Chicken Pie being one of Mom’s go-to covered dishes. Hers is delicious…bubbly crust made from biscuit mix, cream of something, boiled eggs…southern classic. Mine is an adaptation from that wonderful Yankee, Ina Garten. (I usually refer to her as “Barefoot,” but that drives my husband crazy for some reason.)
A dish like this is simple for a weeknight, provided you do a little prep. I routinely boil chicken, freeze the meat, and freeze the broth. It’s amazing what all you can accomplish in the kitchen when you have cooked chicken and chicken broth! If I was really on my game, I would have also had a pie crust in the freezer…but alas, I’m not. Still, the wonderful concoction was in the oven in less than 30 minutes.

Chicken Pie
1 savory pie crust (or buy one)
1/2 onion, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped fine
1 carrot, chopped and 1 cup frozen peas – or 2 cups frozen peas and carrots
Salt
Pepper
Celery salt
Granulated or powdered garlic
1/4 cup all purpose flour
4 cups chicken stock or broth
2 cups(ish) chicken, cooked and shredded
1/2 cup milk or half and half (optional)

Prepare pie crust, or skip this step if using a bought one.

Heat skillet and add enough oil to cover the bottom. Add onion, celery, peas and carrots. Add salt and pepper. Cook until translucent.
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Add flour and stir until lightly tan.

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Add broth and stir.

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Add chicken. Taste, season with celery salt and granulated garlic (I probably used about 1/4 tsp each). Add milk or half and half if using (I forgot to add it!)

Put mixture in casserole dish. Roll out crust to fit the dish and place on top of the chicken yumminess. Cut a few slits in the top and pop it the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the crust is golden.

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Don’t expect leftovers.

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