47. Chicken Pot Pie

Date Cooked: December 16, 2008
Page: 351
Rating: A-

** I have been away for the holidays and I had meant to post this back in December before leaving but time didn’t allow for it. The holidays were great and I hope yours were too. But now back to some cooking (and baking too)!

This was the main dish that the Savory Pie Dough Topping was created for. To be honest the most difficult part of this dish was the dough topping. But I won’t let that stop me from discussing some of the little steps I learned while preparing this dish.

The first step was to poach chicken in chicken stock until just cooked through. While I had heard the message before about trying to keep items of similar size to allow for even cooking times, I didn’t pay attention and had a huge chicken breast poaching alongside one half its size. This led to the small one being a little overcooked by time the large one was done. As I reflect back now I figure I might suffer from mild brain damage. Why wouldn’t I have just removed the smaller piece when it was done? Anyway once the chicken was done it was removed and cut into small pieces.

While the chicken rested I began to prepare the base filling. The basic carrots, onions and celery were sautéed until tender and then set aside with the chicken. Then butter and flour get combined before adding in milk, chicken broth and some thyme. While it simmers some salt and pepper and sherry get added.

The filling gets mixed with the chicken and vegetables and then poured into a baking dish and topped with the dough. I was really worried about the dough breaking or not being rolled out enough to cover the dish but it actually turned out pretty good. The dough held together nicely while moving it onto the pie filling. I was proud of myself.

Rating: A-. It was delicious. The drop in rating was actually due to the pie dough being a little to “floury” (I don’t believe that is actually adjective). I will definitely make this dish again but I’ll need to work on the dough. It’s been almost a month since I made this dish and I am actually craving it.