Chicken Pot Pie

from ThePioneerWoman.com

There's something about wanting to be inside at home with a warm meal when the weather outside reaches 3 degrees and the sky is a grey foggy mess.  I'd been meaning to make this dish for a while just out of curiosity, and tonight was the night.  I also was feeling tired and wanted to make this as quick as I could, so I cut as many corners for this recipe (sorry Grandma) and I'll let you know how I did so.

I N G R E D I E N T S

--4 tbsp. butter

--1/2 cup finely diced onion

--1/2 cup finely diced carrot

--1/2 cup finely diced celery

--3 cups shredded cooked chicken

--1/4 cup flour

--3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

--1/4 tsp. turmeric

--salt and pepper, to taste

--chopped fresh thyme, to taste

--1/4 cup half-and-half

--1 whole unbaked pie crust

--1 whole egg

--2 tbsp. water

 Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Melt the butter in a medium-sized pot on medium high heat.

 Corner cut #1:  the grocery store had this wonderful combo of celery, onion, and carrots already diced and ready to go.  Before buying these ingredients, look for combos like this in the prepared section at the grocery store!

 Add the diced vegetables to the butter and stir it around, until the onions turn translucent.

 This takes about 4-5 minutes.

 Once the vegetables look ready, add in the shredded chicken and stir it around to warm it up.

 Corner cut #2:  there are many ways to cook a chicken, but there's also a way to avoid this step and buy a dang rotisserie chicken.  I bought one, took two forks to tear the meat off, and didn't even break a sweat.  Worth.  It.

 Add in a little flour and give it a stir for a minute.

 Then pour in the chicken stock and stir it around and allow the mixture to start to thicken/

 Once the mixture starts to thicken, add in the turmeric, salt, and pepper.

 Don't forget the thyme!  The fresher, the better.

 Next up is the half-and-half addition.

 That's it for the pot part! (lol)

 Pour the mixture into a 2-quart size pan and even out the surface.  Check out the pie dough in the background.  Corner cut #3:  I searched the frozen food section (gasp!) and found puff pastry already made, all i had to do was let it thaw in the refrigerator for a couple hours before cooking.

 Combine the egg and water for the top of the pie.

 Brush the mixture all over the top of the pie, and make sure the crust folds over the sides nicely.  Also, don't leave the crust layer too thick.  It may need to be rolled out a little bit before plopping it over.

 Include a couple slits in the pie to allow the heat to have a place to escape.  Then pop it in the oven for about 25-30 minutes.

 The puff pastry crust makes this too much fun to handle.

 And you know you're a foodie when any kind of food is "too much fun to handle."