Recipe: The Barefoot Contessa's Chicken Pot Pie

I've always loved chicken pot pie. I've loved the little individual ones you can buy in the freezer section of the grocery store. I've loved the version my mom made, with a fluffy Bisquick crust. I've loved Paula Deen's version with a puff pastry top. But this one... this is the ultimate chicken pot pie. Everything about this was epic. Even the store bought pie crust... 

This recipe appeared a little daunting originally. It calls for a homemade crust, and honestly I'm not good at pie crusts and I didn't have enough butter, so I decided to take out the scariest step and just use a pre-made Pillsbury pie crust leftover from Thanksgiving. It worked perfectly. Other than the crust, this was super easy to make. It took a little bit of time, but there was nothing complicated about it. And the flavor was insane. I'm not going to lie, once the sauce was finished, I ate more than a few spoonfuls of it...

Chicken Pot Pie

(Recipe adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:

• 4-6 C. of cooked chicken (you can use a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken or cook 6 chicken breasts).
• 3 T. olive oil
• Kosher salt & pepper to taste
• 5 C. chicken stock
• 2 chicken bouillon cubes or 2 t. of chicken base
• 1 1/2 sticks (12 T.) unsalted butter
• 2 yellow onions; chopped
• 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
• 1/4 C. heavy cream
• 2 cups medium-diced carrots (about 5-6 carrots), blanched for 2 minutes
• 1 10 oz. package frozen peas 
• 1 1/2 C. frozen corn
• 1 Pillsbury pie crust
• 1 large egg 
• 1 T. of water

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. 
2. Remove pie crust from freezer. Make sure it is thawed before you attempt to unroll it. 
3. Cook chicken breasts or remove meat from a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken. Set aside. 
4. In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock and dissolve the bouillon cubes in the stock. In a large pot or Dutch oven, melt the butter and saute the onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 15 minutes, until translucent. Add the flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Add the hot chicken stock to the sauce. Simmer over low heat for 1 more minute, stirring, until thick. Add 1 teaspoons salt, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, and heavy cream. Add the cubed chicken, carrots, peas and corn.
5. Place one of your ramekins on the pie crust and cut out a piece of crust to fit the top, making it 1/2" larger than the top of the bowl. I was able to cut three out of the pie crust, then made the remnants into a ball and rolled it out to get my 4th piece of crust. 
6. Combine the egg & the tablespoon of water to make an egg wash. 
7. Divide the filling equally among 4 ovenproof bowls. Brush the outside edges of each bowl with the egg wash, then place the dough on top. Crimp the dough to fold over the side, pressing it to make it stick. Brush the dough with egg wash and make 3 slits in the top. Sprinkle with sea salt and cracked pepper. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.

The only problem with this recipe? The serving size is totally out of whack. Or Ina's ramekins are a heck of a lot bigger than mine. I only had four ramekins, so I made four servings of this and froze the rest of the filling. Once we had eaten the pot pies I made, I made four more full sized ones, and three mini ones, and threw out enough filling for at least one more mini one. So, at least 10 servings total. I don't know of anyone who has that many small, oven proof bowls, so you might want to make this in a large casserole dish. Everything is cooked before it goes into the oven, so as soon as the crust is golden brown, it's finished. Or you could make four of them, and freeze the rest of the filling, and have another night's dinner down the road. I froze the leftover filling in a freezer bag, thawed it in the fridge for the most part, and then heated it up in a large sauce pan, stirring it constantly, until it was smooth & creamy again.

The second time I made it, I went with Bisquick topping. This topping is just as easy. I used two cups of Bisquick & 1 cup of skim milk. I spooned the topping on & baked at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Obviously, I filled the ramekins too full, but they were still just as delicious as they were the first time!