Chicken Pot Pie

I'm not a huge fan of chicken pot pie. I love the filling and I love the pastry but I don't like them together, what can I say I'm a little strange. However my husband loves it, together! Plus this is one of those dishes that freezes really well. I have in the past made several pies and stuck them in the freezer making the next month really easy!

In the pictures shown there are no mushrooms in the pie because my husband hates mushrooms. I love them and could happily eat a mushroom pie, hmm, interesting idea!!! So if you are wondering why they are in the recipe but not in the pictures that is the answer.

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

Filling:

1 (3.5lb) whole chicken

5 cups water

2 celery stalk tops with leaves

1 1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

3 Tablespoons/ 1.5 oz butter

3 scallions, sliced

2 large celery ribs, chopped

1/2 cup sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

3 carrots, diced and cooked

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/8 tsp dried thyme

1/4 cup heavy/double cream

Pie Crust:

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

10 Tablespoons/ oz butter, cold and cubed

5 Tablespoons water

Directions:

To make the pie crust:

1. Mix the dry ingredients.

2. Add half the butter to the flour mix and place the other half in the freezer. Bear with me! Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your finger tips, until it is the size of breadcrumbs. You can use a pastry cutter.

3. Add the remaining butter and continue to rub it in until it is the size of small peas. Try to make sure that the butter stays cold.

4.Sprinkle the water into the flour, one tablespoon at a time, stirring with a fork. It should stick together but still look dry.

5. Form into a disk and wrap with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour but ideally overnight.

6. Roll out pastry on a floured surface until larger than the pie dish. Gently place the pastry in the dish and push down to fill it. Trim the edges.

7. Roll out a second piece of pastry for the topping crust. Again just a little bigger than needed.

To make Filling:

1. Add chicken, 5 cups water, 2 celery stalk tops with leaves, salt and pepper in a large Dutch oven. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer mixture 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is done.

2. Remove chicken, reserving 3 1/2 cups broth in Dutch oven; discard celery tops. Let chicken cool; skin, bone and cut into bite-size pieces.

3. Melt butter in skillet. Saute green onions, chopped celery and mushrooms in hot drippings in skillet over medium heat for 5 minutes or until tender.

4. Gradually whisk in flour until blended.

5. Gradually add reserved broth; cook whisking constantly, for 3 minutes or until thickened and bubbly.

6. Stir in chicken, carrots, salt, pepper, thyme and cream.

7. Spoon mixture into prepared pie dishes. Brush the edge with water. Place the second piece of pastry on top. 

8. Using a fork, crimp the edges of the pie to seal the crust together.

9. Brush the top of the pie with egg white and cut a vent in the top.

10. Bake at 450 degrees F for 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Happy Home Cooking!

Mini Apple Pies

When we set the menu for dessert only I figured it would be a good idea to find out what the bride's favorite dessert was. Secretly I was hoping we already had it on our list but we didn't we only had her no. 2 choice chocolate covered strawberries. So I had to quickly figure out how to make mini apple pies.

Now if you ask my husband he will tell you that I don't have a good history with apple pies, so to say he was unsure how this would go was an understatement. I have to say I thought I had set myself a challenge that might not work out and should have settled for the chocolate covered strawberries. But this was about the bride.

So I went online and looked at about 20 different recipes for the filling and finally settled on the recipe below. I'm not a big cinnamon fan at all and actually I really liked it in these. It wasn't too much to give them that overpowering flavor. I love Granny Smith apples, my mother craved them when she was pregnant with me so I don't know if that has had some lasting effect. I love their tart taste and I find they make the best pies.

If you have been reading the blog for a while you will know that I'm very much a make it from scratch kinda girl. I don't really like store bought pie crust and since I was a little girl I was taught how to rub the butter into the flour. I find it kinda of stress relieving in a weird way and enjoy doing it. Actually there may be some sanity to this because you have pressure points in your fingertips and rubbing them can relieve stress. I know you can use a pastry cutter but to be honest I never have and really don't know what to say about them.

I'm looking forward to supersizing this recipe and making a regular pie. I'll post another recipe when I figure it out. Maybe finally I have tamed the apple pie challenge. That's the thing about cooking, if at first you don't succeed try try try again!!! It takes time and with practice and tweaking recipes to your preference it's as easy as apple pie! Which really is an insane saying but once you have mastered it it really is!

Mini Apple Pies

Ingredients:

Crust

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

10 T unsalted butter, cold and cubed

5 T water

Filling

2 Granny Smith Apples, peeled and cored

1 1/2 T flour

1/3 cup sugar

1/8 tsp cinnamon

Pie

1 egg

Raw sugar

Directions:

Crust:

1. Mix the dry ingredients.

2. Add half the butter to the flour mix and place the other half in the freezer. Bear with me! Rub the butter into the flour mixture with your finger tips, until it is the size of breadcrumbs. You can use a pastry cutter.

3. Add the remaining butter and continue to rub it in until it is the size of small peas. Try to make sure that the butter stays cold.

4.Sprinkle the water into the flour, one tablespoon at a time, stirring with a fork. It should stick together but still look dry.

5. Form into a disk and wrap with cling wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour but ideally overnight.

Filling:

1. Cut the apples into tiny cubes.

2. In a bowl mix the dry ingredients with a whisk.

3. Add the apples and mix until all the apples are evenly coated.

Pies:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Roll out the dough until about 1/8 inch thick. Using a round 2.5 inch cookie cutter, cut out 24 rounds. Then with a 3 inch cookie cutter cut out another 24 rounds.

3. Place the smaller pie crusts on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

4. Add between 1/2 - 1 Tablespoon of the apple mixture to the center of each crust. 

5. Make an egg wash with the egg and a little water.

6. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash around the edge of each pie crust to help seal it.

7. Add the larger pie crust to each pie and press down the seams to seal. Using a fork crimp the edges.

8. Brush the top of each pie with the egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar.

9. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes until the pies are a golden brown.

Happy Home Cooking!