Chicken Pot Pie
Crust
1 cup butter
4 oz. cream cheese
2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. cold water
1 egg (egg wash for crust after it is assembled)
Soften butter and cream cheese to room temperature. (I often stick my butter in the microwave for 1 - 2 minutes on power level 2. It softens butter without melting it to just the right consistency. Play with the time and let me know what you think.)
Put butter and cream cheese in a bowl. Add the flour and salt. Cut with a pastry blender or use can use two knives. Cut the fats into the flour and salt until the lumps are about the size of peas. This is a great dough. You really cannot mess it up if you follow these simple directions.
Add the water and stir with a spoon. The dough will start to clump together. Keep stirring. When most of the flour is stuck to the fat, use your hands to gently push everything together. I like to turn it over and over and push a little until all the flour is pretty much incorporated into the ball. Use both hands and squeeze on the dough until it is round and shiny.
Divide the dough in half and roll it out into a circle. Make sure you roll it out big enough to cover the entire pie plate and it has about an one inch lip. (I use a deep pie dish). I like this dough a lot and use most of it even though it will feel thicker than pie crust. Reserve the other half to put on the top after you have filled the bottom crust with your filling.
Filling
1/2 a big onion, or one small onion
1-2 Tbsp. butter
1/2 - 1 whole bag of frozen peas and carrots
Roux with chicken stock or 2 cans of cream of chicken soup
2-3 cups cooked, chopped chicken breast
(Notice these ingredients compliment the Chicken Noodle Soup because they are mostly the same, so you can use up all your ingredients between the two recipes.)
Saute your chopped onions (You know how I feel about onions from the previous day's post)in the melted butter until translucent. Add the Roux (find out more about this from the Chicken Noodle Soup post) or cream of chicken soup (undiluted). Pour in the peas and carrots and cooked chicken. Let everything get nice and warm in your pan. Pour this mixture into your prepared crust.
Roll out the top crust until just slightly bigger than your bottom crust. Just eyeball it. You can do it! I know you can! Gently pick up one side of the crust and fold it over to the other side of the crust so there is a folded side showing. Cut three very small lines into the folded side of the crust. These are your vents to let the steam out as your pie cooks.
Unfold your crust and lay on top of your pie plate with your other crust and pie filling in it. Cut the crust around the pie so there is only 1 inch over hang. Find the bottom crust and gently work around the circle and between your fingers mash the top crust and bottom crust together. Then start turning the crust under to make a log around the outside of the pie. Pretend the pie plate is your child's chin and your are rolling the sheets and tucking them underneath. Go all the way around the pie until all pie crust edges are hidden under neath your pie plate chin.
To make a lovely fluted crust, use your first and middle fingers on your writing hand and spread them apart about an inch. Place them on the edge of your dough. Smash down slightly and take the thumb from your other hand and put it in between the two fingers and pull up slightly on the crust. Continue this around the pie until you have a perfectly fluted pie. (You can always start over. Everything can be fixed. Don't listen to those people who say pie crust is hard. Just dig in and keep trying it until works)
Beat one egg in a small bowl. I use a wire whisk for about 1 minute until it is smooth. Use a pastry brush and brush the egg onto the top crust. Make sure you get in all the peaks and valleys of the crust. Place in a hot oven of 350. I bake it for about 20-25 minutes at 6000 feet where I live. Keep looking in the oven and take it out when it is very golden brown, but not burned.
This is a great dish to take into someone's home when you are taking meals in as a service. I picked this recipe up 25 years ago when I first got married from a friend of mine. I have shared this with more people than almost any other recipe. The only other recipe that might be more popular is my Gingersnap Cookie recipe. Check later on, this one is coming.