- Hey guys.
Today I'm going to show you how to make
one of my favorite dinner party food.
Chicken pot pie.
It's a classic dish that sometimes people can be
a little bit intimidated by,
but it's actually really easy to make at home.
And the best part is it can all be made in advance.
My kinda dish.
We're first going to roast our chicken.
So go ahead and take out a large rimmed cookie sheet.
Line it with some foil.
That'll just help the pan clean up a lot easier
after your chicken is roasted.
Then you're going to place a rack inside,
and then place the chicken breasts on top.
Go ahead and roast for about 25 to 30 minutes
just until the chicken is cooked through.
While the chicken is roasting,
you can go ahead and take out a large dutch oven,
or a large soup pot, whatever you have.
Go ahead and melt some butter.
And then to that you're going to add some onions,
some carrots,
and some leeks.
Go ahead and saute the vegetables
just until they become fork-tender.
And then you are going to add about a 1/4 cup of white wine.
If you don't drink, that's okay.
You could actually at this point
just squeeze a little fresh lemon juice on your vegetables.
You're just looking for a little acidity,
and this is going to add a great depth to our sauce.
At this point you're going to add
about four cups of chicken broth.
Then to thicken our sauce we're going to create
what's called a slurry.
A slurry is just basically some
corn starch thinned with some water.
This is going to help thicken our sauce.
Now if you can't find corn starch,
you also could use some flour.
I do like the corn starch a little bit better,
because I do find that it helps
thicken up the stew just a little bit quicker.
You're going to go ahead and add your slurry.
And then you're going to bring your sauce
to a boil for about one minute.
At this point you'll start to see
your mixture will thicken up.
Then you're going to add some white button mushrooms.
You just want to trim off the ends
and cut them into quarters.
And then you're also going to add one bay leaf.
Go ahead and turn your heat down
and let that simmer while we prep our chicken.
For the chicken you're going to remove the skin.
And then go ahead and cut the meat
off the bone with two forks.
You're just basically looking to shred it
into bite-size pieces.
Then you're going to add your chicken to the mixture.
Along with some lemon zest,
frozen peas,
about one tablespoon of heavy cream,
and some freshly chopped parsley.
And then the final step is just to season
with some salt and pepper.
And then the mixture for our chicken pot pies is done.
And the best part is all of this can be done the day before.
So go ahead and just transfer your mixture
into an airtight container and pop in the fridge
until you're ready to serve.
Then when it comes time to serve,
you're going to transfer your mixture
back into your soup pot and heat it up on your stove top
just until it's nice and warmed through.
Then you're going to ladle out into some soup bowls.
And then you're going to top with some puff pastry.
Now I really love to shop
in some of those international supermarkets.
I have one that's a Mediterranean food market
right by my house, and they sell the puff pastry
already cut into 5 x 5 squares.
That is the perfect size for these little soup bowls
that I have because then I don't have to
cut the puff pastry, and it's all ready to go.
The only thing you want to keep in mind
when choosing the bowl to use
is to make sure that it's oven-safe.
Often times on the bottom of the bowl
it'll say dishwasher, microwave, oven-safe.
That's important because you don't want your bowl to crack
under the heat of the oven.
Then we're going to make an egg wash.
We're going to take one whole egg
and mix it with about a teaspoon of water.
Then with a pastry brush,
we're going to brush our puff pastry with this egg wash.
And that'll help the puff pastry get a beautiful
golden hue to it as it bakes.
Now one tip when it comes to puff pastry.
Is you always want to make sure
that you follow the directions on the back of the package
for the temperature that it says to bake it at.
Sometimes it can be 400, 425.
385 is the ones that I get at the international market.
So you really want to check
because you don't want your puff pastry to burn.
So you want to go ahead and bake your pot pies
just until the puff pastry puffs up
and turns a nice beautiful golden brown.
Then go ahead and take them out of the oven,
and because these vessels are so hot,
I do like to transfer them to a serving plate.
And when your guests see that you made homemade pot pie
in their honor they will be completely impressed, I promise.
I love this dish because it's so delicious.
It's hearty, and it's so elegant.
And it can all be made the day before.
I hope you guys give this one a try,
and let me know what you think.
I think you'll find that these will be a big hit
at your next gathering.
Until next time.
(gentle upbeat music)