Chicken soup potpie for the soul

Tonight was a night for comfort food.
It was an emotional day and this chicken pot pie is our new favorite thing to make. It goes really well with a bottle of Pinot Grigio if you really want to know. Up until a couple of months ago I would have had to pass on the vino, but now that SisterBear is done nursing I can enjoy an occasional glass with dinner.


After five years of being pregnant or nursing it's nice to have my body back.

Like our bottle stopper? Our friend, Tony, made that for us. He's also responsible for the beautiful workmanship of these fishing rods he had up at the cabin over the summer. Woodworking isn't his only talent. We enjoyed listening to him play the guitar at the Christmas Eve service last week.


I should probably disclose that these potpie pictures weren't taken tonight. I took them the first time we made this dish. I should also disclose that this isn't what we had for dinner tonight. It is what I WISH we would have had, but it's time consuming (about 45 minutes to an hour) and requires heavy whipping cream that we didn't have in the house. We dined on chicken nuggets instead. Exciting huh? Even if I was privy to Tyson's recipe for their chicken nuggets, I'm guessing you'd rather know how to make this tasty, flaky crusted, comfort food instead.

MamaBear's Chicken Pot Pie

Pastry
1 1/2 cups flour
1 t salt
1/3 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg
3 T ice water

Glaze
1 large egg, lightly beaten


Filling
4 cups cubed cooked chicken
1 T butter
16 ounces frozen veggies (we use peas, carrots, and beans)
1/4 cup dry white wine or water
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 T flour
1 1/2 t paprika
1/2 t salt
1/2 t black pepper
3/4 cup chicken broth

To prepare pastry, in a medium bowl, mix together flour and salt, Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut butter into flour until coarse crumbs form.

In a small bowl, beat together egg and water. Add to the four mixture; mix lightly until a soft dough forms. Shape into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill in freezer for 30 minutes.

To prepare the filling, place chicken in a 2 quart casserole.

In large skillet, melt butter over low heat. Add veggies and increase to medium heat for five minutes. Add the wine; cook until almost evaporated, about 2 minutes. Add to chicken and mix.

While the veggies cook, whisk together cream, flour, paprika, salt, and pepper, over low heat in a medium saucepan until thickened, about 5 minutes. Whisk in broth. pour sauce over chicken mixture.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

On a lightly floured surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll the pastry to fit the top of the casserole. Place on top of pie; trim and seal the edges.

Roll out trimmings. cut out the decorative leaves. Brush pastry with glaze; add the decorations; brush again with glaze.

Bake until filling is bubbly and crust is browned, 25-30 minutes.

Enjoy!

We like to make this the day after we've boiled a large chicken. We always have extra chicken and homemade broth leftover to use for this recipe then. I freeze any extra broth for another time. One of these days I'll share my easy recipe for chicken noodle soup, but this one should keep you busy for a while. :) It sounds complicated, but if your hubby likes to cook, it's a great dish to make together. The homemade crust is SO worth it. Yummy!