1 box pastry dough
1 egg
4-6 chicken breasts boiled & cubed. Or, 1 whole boiled chicken
2 boxes chicken broth or try homemade if boiling a whole chicken
1 diced onion
2 garlic cloves
4 carrots, peeled & sliced
3 potatoes, cubed
1 Small bag frozen peas
4 tbls butter
4 tbls flour
2 tsp Dill
1 tbls poultry seasoning (see note)
1 bay leaf
S & P
optional: Cavender's Greek Seasoning & 1 stalk celery
One of my favorites! This mini version of chicken pot pie is so quaint! You can use the small ramekin size or bump it up to the individual serving size. What lady won't enjoy coming over & being surprised with her own personal pie!
Here goes! First, you choose, do you want to boil breasts only & use store bought broth. Or, do you want to boil a whole chicken & have homeade broth. It's not hard to make your own. If boiling breasts: place breasts in stock pot, cover with water & boil until done. If using a whole chicken: cover with water, NOW ADD YOUR poultry seasoning, one onion peeled & quartered, 2 whole garlic cloves, 1 bay leaf & celery is optional. Then, S&P. (NOTE: I enjoy adding 2tsp Cavender's Greek seasoning, which couples great with the poultry seasoning.) Bring to a low boil & simmer until done, about 45 min to 1 hour. Remove whole chicken & strain remaining contents into a large bowl. Discard all the remains & you have a wonderful broth! Use your broth now to substitute store bought in the rest of the recipe. If you like more white meat, you can always drop in a few boneless breasts in the last 25 minutes of boiling. Shew... now, on with the rest!
Set chicken aside to cool, cube once you are able to handle the meat. Reserve in a bowl.
Place broth in stock pot. Now, if using store bought broth, IT'S YOUR TURN TO ADD your minced garlic, diced onion, bay leaf, poultry seasoning, S & P and optional: diced celery and 2 tsp Cavender's Greek Seasoning (see NOTE above).
Place all veggies, minus the peas in pot, bring to a low boil & simmer until just fork tender, turn off heat. It will be about 15 minutes. Add peas! Now, drain off into a reserve bowl all broth until about 1 inch broth remains in pot. Add back in chicken.
In a small sauce pan melt the butter over Med/High heat. Then, sprinkle in flour & stir continuously for 1 minute... we are making an easy broth thickener. Now add in 1/2 c of broth at a time until you have a nice thick & creamy broth. Pour this mixture over chicken & veggies. Return to a Med/High heat until it's all thick & creamy! Not thick enough yet, you can always repeat the process until you like the consistency. Too thick, you can add back in your reserve broth.
Great! It's all cooked! now, the remaining baking is just to do the crust. So, preheat oven to 350 degrees & place your filling in dishes. Fill to the top! Cut pie crust to fit the top of your dishes with a 1 inch rim. Take the rim and roll it under, to thicken the crust. Then, use your fingers to pinch the rim & make it picture perfect. Brush very lightly with one whipped egg yolk.
Bake at 350 until crust is nice & golden, simply follow directions on your purchased crust. About 1/2 way through cooking, I cover the edges of crust with foil rings or strips. This lets the crust stay golden while the center finishes cooking. It's usually about a 35 minute process, but you'll just have to peak in & see when your middle is done.
So, this one is not a 30 minute meal, but it's also not a tough one. It will thrill the crowd! If fixing for your family, you can always put it in pie tins or a 9X13 pan! You can also cut out little leafs with the remaining dough or each person's initials!
