SUSAN S. YESKE
It’s been a cold, snowy week, making it a perfect time for a homemade chicken pot pie. To tell the truth, any day in winter is a great time for pot pie, whether it’s chicken or has some other filling.
This ancient dish is believed to date back to 9500 B.C., when the Greeks cooked meats mixed with other ingredients in open pastry shells. Pot pie has maintained its popularity ever since, whether it’s filled with chicken, beef, ham, lentils or seafood.
Flavorful and homespun, it’s one of the top comfort foods, and can be as difficult or as easy as you choose it to be. Chefs have a variety of ways to make it, most often with a double pastry crust. But it also can be made cobbler-style with a homemade or Bisquick Baking Mix topping, or Pennsylvania Dutch style (bot boi) with wide egg noodles cooked on top of the filling. When you make an oversized pot pie, you have leftovers to enjoy for several days.
If you have a fear of making pie crusts, which can sometimes be finicky, you can buy refrigerated crusts at the supermarket.
Frozen chicken pot pies were first introduced to American consumers in 1951 by the C.A. Swanson company, making pot pies even easier to enjoy.
This pot pie recipe from bettycrocker.com is designed to be easy and calls for premade pie crusts from the supermarket and precut frozen peas and carrots. Use your own homemade crusts if you prefer, as well as your own peas and carrots (or any other vegetable you like), cut to a small dice.
Classic Chicken Pot Pie
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup chopped onion
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1¾ cups chicken broth
2/3cup of milk
2½ to 3 cups cut-up cooked chicken or turkey
1 box (10 ounces) frozen peas and carrots
1 package (15 ounces) refrigerated pie crusts, softened as directed on box (or your own homemade crust).
1. In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in flour, onion, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until mixture is bubbly; remove from heat. Stir in broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil and stir 1 minute. Stir in chicken and peas and carrots; remove from heat.
2. Heat oven to 425°F. Roll 1 pie crust into 13-inch square. Ease into ungreased 9-inch (2-quart) glass baking dish. Pour chicken mixture into crust-lined dish.
3. Roll remaining pie crust into 11-inch square. Cut out designs with 1-inch cookie cutter. Place square over chicken mixture. Arrange cutouts on top crust. Turn edges of pie crust under; flute edge.
4. Bake about 35 minutes or until golden brown.
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