Chicken Pot Pie

This is the first time I've ever made a chicken pot pie - mainly because I've never eaten a Chicken Pot Pie that I really loved.  I decided to give this one a try though & it was a winner.  My husband took one bite and said, "This is REALLY good," so I'll definitely be making this again.  It is pretty time consuming, so you either need to prepare parts of it in advance or make a double batch all at one time so it's worth your time.

Start by boiling one chicken & then cut it up into bite size pieces.  Save the broth.

Ingredients:

3 large celery stalks - I used about 8 small stalks

3 medium carrots

1 large onion

1/2 cup of broccoli

4 Tablespoons of butter

2 Cups of cooked chicken - cut into bite size pieces

1/4 cup of flour

2 Cups of chicken broth (the broth you saved when you boiled the chicken)

2 bouillon cubes

1 Cup of cream

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon of salt

black pepper to taste

1/2 recipe of Pioneer Woman's Pie Crust

Begin by finely dicing the celery, carrots, onion and broccoli.   Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, carrots, celery and broccoli.  Saute until the vegetables start to turn translucent, this will take a couple of minutes.  Add the chicken and stir to combine.  Sprinkle the flour evenly over the vegetables and chicken and stir to combine.  Cook for a couple of minutes, stirring gently.  Pour in the chicken broth, stirring constantly.  Add the bouillon cubes.  Pour in the cream and stir.  Allow the mixture to cook over low heat, thickening gradually, about 4 minutes.  Season with the thyme, salt and pepper.  Remove from the heat. 

 Pour the chicken and vegetable mixture into a deep pie pan or a small casserole dish.

Roll out the crust so that it's one inch larger than the pan.  Place the crust on top of the chicken mixture and cut small slits in the top.  Press the crust gently into the sides of the dish to seal.  

Bake for 30 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.  I put foil under the pie while it was cooking because mine started to boil over a bit.  

Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe Credit:  The Pioneer Woman Cooks - pg 126