chicken pot pie

I'm  not a huge fan of chicken breast, but I always have them leftover from making chicken soup and hate not making something useful out of it.  Chicken pot pie sounds good and looks pretty, and I was always meaning to get around and making it but my heart was never really into it.  I finally bit the bullet last week and cooked me some chicken pot pie and I will never look back.  Seriously, it was amazing.  New favorite dish amazing.  It was rich and creamy while still being bright and fresh, all done without any cream, dairy or otherwise.  We stopped eating it just to make sure we had a decent amount of leftovers for another meal.

 

Chicken pot pie is traditionally made with peas, but I just don't like peas.  At all.  So I substituted one green healthy option for another and used celery, which worked just fine.  I added pearl onions to make it that much more impressive looking, plus Bryan loves them.  If you'd like, add whatever veggie floats your boat.  Mushrooms would add an extra layer of meatiness and I know a potato would be excellent with all the creamy goodness.

 

Pearl onions are notoriously hard to peel. Blanching them makes the skins pop right off.  Bryan had the brilliant idea to put the onions in a fine strainer in the pot, then after a minute just lift the strainer and you've got your onions.  Unfortunately, our strainer has plastic on it.  It melted a bit.  If you've got an all-metal one, I strongly suggest using it - it makes the whole process much smoother.  Since I already had the pot of water going for the onions I blanched my carrots and celery as well to make them extra bright and vibrant.

 

My slits in the crust were accidental.  The puff pastry split where it had been folded and no nudging would make it stick together.  Even without pretty slits, this looked really good and did not stop me from enjoying it!

chicken pot pie
servings: 4 (you can easily double or triple this for more servings)
calories per serving: 315 (approximate, as always)

2 chicken breasts, cooked and cubed
10 pearl onions
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, cubed
2 stalks celery, cubed
1/4 cup flour
2 1/2 cups chicken broth or water
squeeze of lemon
splash of sherry or semi-dry white wine
puff pastry

Preheat your oven to 350.  Bring a pot of water to a boil.  Cut off ends of pearl onions, add to boiling water and blanch for one minute then remove with slotted spoon or strainer and put in a bowl with ice water.  Repeat with celery and carrots.  To remove the skin from the pearl onions, pinch the uncut tips and squeeze, popping the onion out.  Heat a skillet with oil (I use spray oil) and add pearl onions, browning them for 5 minutes.  Add the chopped onion, sprinkle with a pinch of salt, and saute for 2 minutes.  Add celery and carrots.  Add the flour and mix to coat the vegetables and lightly cook it for 2 minutes.  Pour in the stock, a squeeze of lemon and a splash (or more) of wine and let it simmer.  Stir in your chicken with a few grinds (or shakes) o f pepper.  Pour into an oven-proof baking dish.  Roll out your puff pastry wide enough to cover your dish.  Place your dough on top, trimming and crimping the edges to seal the dish.  With a sharp knife make slits in the pastry.  Bake in oven for half an hour or until browned on top.