I have not made a pot pie since I don’t know when…
But when I was a kid there was always a Swanson’s chicken or pot pie in the freeze and I used to pop in oven for 45 minutes and bam time to eat! It was mostly gravy and potatoes.
Jesse has never had a pot pie believe it or not! So I went over the idea of a pot pie with him he said sure let’s make it!
I told him there’s a couple of ways to make it.., Crust only on top and crust on top and bottom.
With puff pastry or normal pie crust.
He said top and bottom crust I had no puff pastry dough which I prefer. So we went with normal pie crust made from scratch. Then we decide on making smaller pies it would easier to serve and less messy.
Simple Pie crust
!0 minutes
3 cups of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 cup of Crisco Vegetable Shortening chilled
6-11 tablespoon of ice cold water.
In a large bowl, mix flour and salt.
Then add Crisco Vegetable Shortening work it with you fork if you can if your hand are warm and will melt the Vegetable Shortening and you will have a less flaky crust. If you want to go crazy put the flour in the frig.
Keep mixing and adding the ice water till the flour forms crumbs the size of a pea.
Start pressing the dough together with your hands it should start to stick together and not crack.
Keep doing this till you form a dough ball.
Cut the dough ball in half and flatten both in to flat patties.
Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for an hour.
As I have always said Baking is science you need exact measurement and ratios or else batters and pastries will not turn out right.
On the other hand stove top cooking you can adjust pretty easy and measurement is not that crucial.
As I cook I taste and keep adjusting it till it is perfect.
Filling
2 cups of protein you pick one. Chicken, turkey, beef etc. can be leftover or fresh cut in to cubes or shredded.
½ cup celery sliced the way you like it.
½ cup of carrots cut
1 onion
½ cup frozen peas
2 medium potatoes peeled and diced
Thyme
Sage
Garlic about 3 cloves mashed
About 1 teaspoon garlic powered
Salt
Crack blacked pepper. (I don’t know why people use ground black pepper)
Flour
1 cup heavy cream
Butter
2 Eggs
Cooking
About 3 hours
Put about 5 cups of stock in a pot add the protein , garlic, a bit of the other seasoning now and bring to a simmer let that simmer for about 40 minutes.
In another pan sauté the onion in about a tablespoon of butter till they change color then add the carrots and celery and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add all the sauté veggies to the stock that is cooking.
Add the diced potatoes if not enough stock to cover everything just add more stock just enough to cover everything.
Now keep this cooking at a slight boil for 40 mins you want a bit of bubbles stir every 5 mins.
After 40 minutes taste add more seasoning to taste if it taste like good soup you want to make the flavor stronger then you add 2 or3 bouillon cubes or powder. Make sure it is broken up first.
Keep simmering.
The roux
In a pan heat up a ½ a stick of butter over medium heat till it is all melted.
Add 2 tablespoons of flour and stir do not stop stirring. You want flour to be mixed in really well keep stirring till it starts turning a light golden brown.
Pour in 1 cup of heavy cream and whisk till no lumps take this and pour into the stock pot.
Stir the stock pot you will see it is thicken
Depending how runny you want the filling to be you may or may not want to add more roux.
Once you get it to the right thickness let it cool down a bit before the pastry part.
Crust
Take the dough out of the frig and roll it out on floured surface.
Once you rolled it out to right thickness get a pie pan and make sure it is buttered and lightly coated with flour.
In my case I use large muffin tins and cut large circle shapes to fill the inside of the muffin trays with some hanging over and a small circle to the top using a large glass or mug.
Now you have to work fast fill the pies with the fillings add the top crust and pinch the edges closed and towards the center.
Make a hole in the center of the pie with a knife like 2 or 3 should be fine.
Beat 2 egg yolks in a bowl
Brush the tops with egg yolk wash gently with a brush or your fingers.
Put the pie in a 425 pre heated oven for 45 mins keep an eye on it may take longer or less time depending on your oven.
They should be golden brown and bubbling when done.
Let them rest for about 15 minutes.
Ready to serve done!