Se Hace Camino Al Andar

I’ve made chicken pot pie twice now and I’ve learned some lessons. It’s time I heeded them.

The crust:
I make a quick and dirty pot pie, using puff pastry sheets for the crust. It’s still good in a pinch but twice now, I’ve used Everyday Food’s crust recipe¹ , and I gotta say: it rocks. I just have to remember to allow for more cooking time when I use a big casserole dish, instead of little ramekins.

The filling:
I find it much easier to use a bag of frozen mixed vegetables (usually the corn, pea and carrot variety), then add either frozen pearl onion or chopped fresh onion. My filling consists of the vegetables, a roux, white wine, thyme, oregano, parsely, some broth and of course, some chicken.
Because the crust cooks so quickly, the filling really needs to be cooked before the pot pie goes in the oven. Also, I should sweat the onions before making the roux. They never seem to cook down enough. And I’ve clearly been using too much broth because my pot pie is lacking that nice, thick gravy. Maybe I’ll just cut out the broth all together next time and let the liquids from the vegetables do the job.

I’m looking forward to my next chicken pot pie already and I have plans in the works for a seafood pot pie. Nom nom.