I got tricked by the shining sun this weekend and made a careless mistake. I took my boy out to the playground and packed everything I thought I needed, but as I was pulling out, I realized I didn’t have my jacket in the car.
“It’s fine,” I thought to myself, “the sun is bright and warm today and I’m wearing enough. I won’t need a jacket,” and foolishly, I drove away.
Alas, the sun was not shining at the playground, and the wind stole whatever warmth that could sneak through the clouds, and while he ran and climbed and chased his new friends, I started to shiver. I couldn’t ruin his fun over my silly error, so I folded my arms and hopped around to stay warm. By the time we left, I was chilled to my core.
Even though the sun was still shining at home, I was craving cool-weather comfort food when we got back, so I decided to make a chicken pot pie with some leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge.
This classic chicken pot pie is a great way to use up the last handfuls of frozen peas and sad potatoes in the pantry, and if you happen to have some frozen pie crust on hand, can come together quickly, too. I didn’t have any this time, but I was happy to take the long route and make the crust from scratch — a great excuse to stay camped out in my warm kitchen for a while longer.
Rotisserie Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 stick butter, cut into cubes and chilled
1 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons ice water
1 egg for wash
For the filling:
2 cups shredded cooked chicken
½ large white onion
1 large carrot
1 cup corn
1 cup frozen peas
2 medium potatoes
1 tablespoon chicken bouillon paste
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk
2 tablespoons fresh thyme
Black pepper and salt to taste
Directions:
Make the crust first.
Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of your food processor.
Drop in a few cubes of butter at a time, pulsing as you go, until there are no large pieces left.
While continuing to pulse, drizzle in the ice water just until the dough comes together.
Turn the dough out onto the counter and gently press it into a disk, wrap in plastic, and let rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Dice all the vegetables into small pieces. You want the potatoes, carrot and onion to be about the same size as the corn and peas.
Melt the butter in a large skillet and sauté the onion until soft.
Sprinkle on the flour and stir to coat.
Pour in the milk and chicken stock base and whisk until smooth.
Simmer for about 10 minutes. You can add a little water as you go if it gets too thick.
Dump in the chicken, thyme, and vegetables and stir. Cook for just a couple minutes then turn off the heat.
Taste and season with black pepper and salt.
Pour the filling into a 9 x 13 casserole dish.
Roll the pie dough out on a floured surface into a rectangle that’s just a little larger than your dish.
Gently drape the dough over the filling, rolling the extra dough inward to create a rim.
Use a sharp knife to cut slits in the top of the crust to allow steam to escape.
Brush the entire surface of the crust with an egg wash, then put in a 400-degree oven for 25 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
***It seems I’ve made another careless mistake and repeated a dish for the first time in three years of writing this article! I’ll pretend it was my intention and call this version “new and improved.” My apologies. ***
