Chicken Pot Pie

Who doesn't like chicken pot pie?

This is a fun recipe because you get to do a little of everything: mixing biscuits, sauteing, and baking. And then it finishes in the oven, so I can clean up all of the other pots and pans while the pie bakes, and sit down to dinner with the kitchen already clean. It can be made ahead and baked at the last minute.

This is from The Best Recipe.

Ingredients:

1 recipe biscuit topping, to follow
1 1/2 lbs chicken breasts and/or thighs
2 c chicken broth, preferably homemade
1 1/2 T oil
1 onion, chopped fine
3 carrots, sliced
2 stalks celery, sliced
salt & pepper
4T butter
1/2 c flour
1 1/2 c milk
1/2 tsp dried thyme
3 T dry sherry
3/4 frozen green peas, thawed

first, make biscuit topping:

1c all-purpose flour
1c cake flour
2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1 t sugar
1/2 t salt
8 T butter, chilled, cut into small cubes
3/4 c buttermilk

1. Pulse first 6 ingredients in food processor. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with pea-sized lumps. (Note: this is the only time I ever use bleached flour. Lots of southern cooks swear by White Lily flour for biscuits, so here we go. I think they are a little lighter and fluffier.)

2. Transfer to medium bowl, add buttermilk, stir until dough gathers into moist clumps. Transfer to floured surface, roll to 1/2" thick. Punch out 2 1/2-3" rounds. (You should get 7 or 8, maybe some extra small ones from scraps). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Back to the filling:

1. Heat oven to 400. Simmer chicken in broth until done. Set meat aside and save broth. (I started with leftover chicken and skipped this step. I wasn't sure how much 1 1/2 pounds was; I used this amount and it was maybe a bit too much:

3. Increase heat to medium high, heat oil in now-empty pan. Add onions, carrots, and celery; saute until just tender, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt & pepper. While vegetables cook, shred chicken. Transfer vegetables to bowl with chicken.

4. Heat butter over medium heat in again-empty pan. When foaming subsides, add flour; cook 1 minute. Whisk in broth, milk, and thyme. Bring to a simmer and simmer until thickened, 1 minute. Season to taste with salt & pepper; stir in sherry.

5. Add chicken & vegetables back to sauce, stir to combine. Stir in peas and adjust seasoning.

6. Make ahead option: At this point you may choose to cover and refrigerate overnight. The biscuit dough shouldn't be made that far ahead though. Reheat the filling before topping with the pastry.

7. Pour mixture into 9x13 pan, top with biscuits, bake until biscuits are golden brown and filling is bubbly, about 30 minutes.

Oh, by the way, if you don't have a dough scraper, I highly recommend one. It makes cleaning up a mess like this quick and easy. Pie crust, biscuits, that sort of thing are much less intimidating if the cleanup is simple.