Chicken Pot Pie

I love a chicken pot pie and I have the best recipe.  It originally came from a friend in MA and once I tried it I was in love.  This Christmas 2010 I purchased the Centerville Pie from Harry & David that Oprah raved about and it was not as good as mine.  It didn't have any veggies which surprised me, simply chicken and gravy.  What happened to the peas and carrots that pot pies are known for?  If you are not a cook I would say give the Centerville Pot Pie a try because they are good just not as great as I was expecting.  Click here to see my post on the Centerville Pot Pie.

CHICKEN POT PIE

1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen peas

1 C. baby carrots, sliced in thin circles
½ onion, chopped
8 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
¼ C. (½ stick) butter
⅓ C. flour
½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
¼ t. sage leaves
2 t. dried parsley
2 C. water
¾ C. milk
4 small chicken bouillon cubes or 2 large
2 C. cooked chicken, chopped
2 Pillsbury fresh pie crusts, unrolled

Preheat oven to 400°F. In a large 10” skillet sauté onions, carrots and mushrooms in butter until onions are translucent. Stir in flour, salt, sage, parsley and pepper. Add water, milk, and bouillon. Cook and stir till thickened and bubbly. Stir in vegetables and chicken; heat till bubbly. Pour chicken mixture into pie crust. Top with second pie crust. Seal edges by folding top crust under bottom crust and crimp with thumb and fingers “peace sign fingers” or seal with tines of fork, pressing crusts together. Bake 45 minutes or according to pie crust directions.

Variations:

• Instead of using the pie crusts you roll out you can use a frozen crust that comes in a pie tin and top it with a fresh crust torn into triangles, cut out with cookie cutters or strips laid on the top of the pie.
• Instead of a purchased crust, make you own using the recipe below “Perfect Pie Crust.

• You can also put the filling in a 15x10 inch pan or individual casserole dishes and only use one crust on the top of the pie for less calories.

PERFECT PIE CRUST
12 T. (1 ½ sticks) cold unsalted butter
3 C. all-purpose flour
1 t. kosher salt
1 T. sugar
⅓ C. vegetable shortening
6 - 8 T. (about ½ C.) ice water

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Dice the butter and add it along with the shortening to the flour mixture. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine pulsing, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to overnight.
Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn’t stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust. Makes 2 (10-inch) crusts.

“Original recipe came from the Barefoot Contessa. It was so easy and worth not purchasing pie crusts ever again.”