Today I'm going to show you how to turn these simple ingredients into the ultimate comfort food.
Whoa!
Chicken pot pie.
The creamy vegetable and protein filling
is baked in a buttery flaky crust and if you're lucky you'll have enough for leftovers.
Let's get started.
To make the pie crust you're going to need 1 3/4 cups of unsalted butter.
We're going to cut them into 1/2-inch pieces. Cutting them into these size
cubes is going to give you a nice flaky crust.
Make sure to keep the butter chilled until you're ready to add it to the flour.
I'm going to use a stand mixer to make the pie dough but you could also
use your hands or even a food processor.
I have 3 cups of all-purpose flour in the mixer
and I'm going to add a 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.
Mix that on low speeds for about 10 seconds.
Now I'm going to add my chilled butter
just stir it on the lowest setting just to coat the flour on the butter.
Just pulse it a few times.
The flour is coated on the butter,
now we're going to stir it on the lowest setting for about 60 to 75 seconds
until the butter breaks down to the size of a pea.
This looks good, you'll see that there's some
coarse pieces that I just break up with my finger back into the flower.
Don't forget to check the bottom of the bowl for some larger pieces.
This looks good, now we can add the water.
I have 3/4 cups of chilled ice water that I'm going to add 1 tablespoon in at a time.
We're not gonna use all the water just about 8 to 10 tablespoons until the flour is hydrated.
And then just stir for about 1 to 2 seconds.
Adding in cold water is going to ensure that the butter doesn't melt.
I added about 8 tablespoons, the dough looks nice and hydrated
and when you press it together it clumps so it's ready.
I have 2 pounds of pie dough and we're going to separate them into
two evenly-sized discs that's going to make the top crust and the bottom crust.
Form them into 1 inch thick discs and then you're going to chill it for 4 hours.
This is going to allow the gluten protein
in the dough to relax so that when you roll it out and bake the pie crust it won't be tough
Okay, just wrap them individually in plastic wrap
and then we're going to take them to the refrigerator and let them chill.
I happen to have some pie dough that I made the night before.
They're really good to make 2 days in advance so that you can take
them out whenever you're ready to make the pie.
We're going to start with the top crust.
It helps to take the pie crust out about 5-10 minutes before rolling so it's easier to roll out.
I lightly dust the cutting board with some flour as well as my rolling pin
and we're going to roll it out into about a 1/4-inch thick or about 13 inches.
Just keep turning and rolling.
This looks good, just transfer it to a parchment paper-lined sheet pan.
Now we're going to make the bottom crust.
Okay, this looks about 13 inches and a 1/4 inch thick.
I'm going to transfer it to a 9-inch pie dish.
Just lay it on top and press the dough flush with the pan
Now just take a paring knife or you could use kitchen shears
and trim off the excess dough just flush against the edge of the pie dish.
Now that the pie crusts are rolled out and ready, I'm going to chill them in the refrigerator
but in the meanwhile, we can make the chicken filling.
I have 1 1/2 pounds of chicken breasts and I'm going to cut them into 2 pieces
so that they cook quickly and evenly.
So I'll just slice them down the middle like this.
Some grocery stores sell thin cut pieces of chicken breasts so you could use that as well.
Now, just season each side with salt and pepper.
The chicken is seasoned, let's head over to the stove.
Set the oven rack to the middle position, preheat to 375 degrees.
Heat a large skillet with high sides or a dutch oven over medium heat.
Once hot, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil, add the chicken, and cook for 6 minutes.
Flip over and cook until the internal temperature reaches 160 to 165 degrees, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Turn off the heat and transfer to a clean plate, reserve the pan to cook the rest of the filling.
The chicken has cooled down so now I'm going to shred it into smaller pieces.
I really like sauteing the chicken breast because as you can see
there's all this beautiful golden-brown crust on the surface,
so a lot more flavor in your pie.
Also if you have leftover whole-roasted chicken
or turkey from a big feast you could just shred that up, and add 3 cups to the filling
and it makes it a lot quicker and it's a really yummy way to use your leftovers.
Heat the same pan used to cook the chicken over medium heat.
Melt 1/3 cup butter in the pan, add 1 cup of diced onions, and 1 tablespoon minced garlic.
Saute until translucent, about 2 minutes.
Add 1 cup celery, 1 cup carrots, 1 teaspoon rosemary, and 1 teaspoon thyme,
saute for 3 minutes.
Add 1 cup sliced mushrooms, and saute for 1 minute.
Add 2 cups diced potatoes, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, and a 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.
Stir then cover and cook until the potatoes are tender about 9 to 10 minutes.
Make sure to stir the vegetables every 2 minutes to prevent burning.
Sprinkle in 1/3 cup flour,
stir and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly pour in 1 1/2 cups chicken stock, and 1 cup heavy cream.
Stir constantly until a thick and smooth sauce forms, about 2-3 minutes.
It should coat the back of a spoon, turn off the heat,
add the shredded chicken a 1/2 cup of peas, and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley.
Stir to combine.
Wow, the filling looks really good.
It's hearty and creamy and I'm just going to
transfer the filling to a sheet pan to quickly cool it down.
We don't want to add hot filling to the pie crust,
we want to cool it down to about room temperature and that's going to take about 20 minutes.
If you want to speed up the process you could also pop it in the refrigerator and cool it that way.
The chicken filling has cooled down, we're going to add it to the pie crust.
Now just add it in an even layer.
What's great about this filling too is you could have continued to cool
it in the refrigerator for about 2 days making a really nice make-up head meal.
The reason why we cool the filling is so that the butter doesn't melt in the bottom of the crust.
I like to sprinkle it with just a little bit more black pepper on top
and now we're ready to add the top crust.
Just lay it over my hand, and place it on top.
Okay, so press the crust down
on the edges and then trim it so that there's about a 1/2 inch overhang
that way we can tuck the top crust under the bottom crust.
Okay, now just tuck the edges underneath like this
and press. You wanna make sure when you slice the pieces they stay together.
And it's up to you how you want to do the design on the edges.
You could just use the tines of a fork to make little
like little marks on the pie, or I like to do the fluted design.
So just pinch and then use your thumb to kind of go around.
Okay, looks good. Now I'm going to add some egg wash on top.
It's just 1 large egg that I whisked and this is going to give it a deeper golden-brown color.
Now you want to create a few vents on the top so that the filling doesn't get all soggy inside.
So I'll cut 6 vents about 3/4 inches long
and then a little bit more salt and pepper on top since it's a savory pie.
Now you're going to take a foil-lined sheet pan, place the pie on top
and we are going to bake this at 375 degrees
until the crust is nice and golden-brown on the top and the sides, about 60 to 70 minutes.
Wow, the pie is gorgeous. The surface and the sides are golden-brown.
I'm going to let it sit on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes,
and then transfer it to a wire rack for 45 minutes.
This is gonna give the pie a chance to firm up so that when you slice it,
it doesn't fall apart. I can't wait.
The wait is over, let's cut a slice.
Oh, you can see the little flakes come off on the pie already, that's a good sign.
Oh, it's gorgeous, nice and creamy, flaky buttery crust definitely a winner.
When I make my roasted chicken recipe right here, I have tons of leftovers to make this pie.
I hope you enjoyed learning the science behind chicken
pot pie and if you did give it a big thumbs up it means a lot when you do.
See you in the next video.
Time to take a bite.
This is so good, you're not going to want to miss out on it.