Italian Chicken Pot Pie

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From: byrd45 (Original Message) Sent: 11/6/2007 3:59 PM
Italian Chicken Pot Pie
Serves 4. Can be doubled

10 ounces of pre-cooked chicken breast meat cut into chunks. (I bought the pre-cooked meat to save time. There are different flavors. I settled on the Italian version and my mind went to work on my new pot pie inspiration. You can buy the Italian spiced version, or lemon and herbs. They'll both work. You can also use your own chicken or even leftover turkey at the holidays.)
2 Tbl of butter
2 Tbl of flour
2 cups of low salt canned chicken broth
1-1/2 cups of cream
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp of Italian seasonings blend
one cup of frozen peas with pearl onions
4 oz of sliced button mushrooms.
1 large carrot diced
1 celery stalk sliced (or you can do what I did and buy the precut carrots and celery prepped for dipping and just cut up 4 carrot sticks and 4 celery sticks. This gives you the extra ones to munch on while you prepare dinner. It was actually less expensive to buy the carrots and celery this way and I didn't have leftovers).
6 green onions, cleaned trimmed and diced
1 large Idaho potato peeled and cut into half inch dice
1 pre-prepared pie crust

Get out a 9 X 9" square oven-proof pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium sauce pan add your butter and begin to melt it on medium high heat. Add the flour and stir until bubbly. You are making the base for your pot pie sauce. When the mixture is bubbling stir in your chicken stock, slowly. You want the flour to mix in seamlessly; no lumps. Just start slowly and you'll be fine. When all stock is added put in your cream. Stir while you add the cream. Then add salt and pepper to taste as well as Italian seasoning. A quick grind of sea salt and a dusting of pepper should do it. Leave on medium heat until the sauce begins to bubble. Keep an eye on it and stir once in awhile. As the sauce is cooking you should be able to assemble your veggies in the 9 X 9" pan. The sauce won't take more than 10-12 minutes. Watch for it to start to thicken and make sure it does not boil over.

Put the cut up chicken in the bottom of your heat proof pan. As you prep each veggie you can add it on top of the chicken. No need to thaw or sauté anything. Just put the items on top of each other in the pan. Keep the crust aside for a minute.

When your sauce is boiling and has thickened enough to look like loose gravy you are ready to make your final assembly. Just pour the sauce over the veggies and stir the whole mess thoroughly. This will mix up all of the veggies.

Take the round pie crust and unroll it over your veggie combination. The round edges will hang over the sides. Just fold them back toward the pan and sort of tuck them in along the edges. No need to be picky. Then take a fork and make three pokes in the top of the crust to vent it.

Put the dish in your oven and bake 50 minutes; or until your pie crust is as brown as you like it. During this time you can be watching a movie or reading a novel; playing games with the kids or curled up in front of a warm fire.

If, after 50 minutes, the crust is not as brown as you like it, feel free to raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake 5 to 10 minutes longer.

One secret to a great pot pie is to let it sit out of the oven 10 to 20 minutes before you serve it. That way you don't sear your mouth from the blazing heat of the dish. When it's not so hot it actually has more depth to the taste. Not having a bottom crust cuts down on the carbs and you'll hardly notice it missing.

Cut into the pie and serve in bowls or on a plate with a simple salad and you have a wonderful, cozy meal.