Chicken Pot Pie Granny Style

Not my Granny’s! My Granny Martha could can, pickle, and preserve. Cook? Not so much! Orlando has delicious recipes from his Granny and this is one. The crust looks amazingly flaky. Wait until you see a slice of this pie! Orlando and I go way back. We both worked at the same company in Raleigh (actually Morrisville), North Carolina. He was my immediate superior and I’m afraid I gave him headaches. Medical research is beyond demanding. Taking on this job seemed like a good idea at the time. After training I would eventually work out of my home. (Be able to take care of my aging Mother.) Fuzzy slippers and PJs ’till noon … How hard could it be! I was forewarned about the 65% travel time. I just didn’t realize the 65% was in addition to 40 hours of work. Something like that! Mother was on her own and not happy! The Fresno airport had no direct flights to where I was headed. Three connections later I dragged myself into the hospital. Immediately I was on! As I’m typing here … why am I missing this job!! Ha! There were perks! Maybe mostly for my friend Ed who loved baseball. He’d meet up with me in US’s baseball towns and we’d take in a game. Houston, Boston, Raleigh-Durham, etc … Visalia not so much. I’m very proud of my work with this company. Orlando was impressive. He was busy reining in people like me and flying all over the country too.

Hope you enjoy this recipe, and I have more from Orlando! I asked for a picture of Orlando to post. He attached a video of him singing, “All I want for Christmas.” It’s not even July!

Use peas, or asparagus or broccoli florets with the potato, celery, carrots and onion. This is jam packed.

Make your favorite 9″ pie crust or use a store bought (2 crust in a pinch!)

Thank you Orlando and to your Granny too!
Photos and recipe courtesy of Orlando

Recipe

This will be baked at 400 degrees F but wait to preheat your oven.

3-4 Pound whole chicken-remove extras from cavities for another day, or toss (Sorry Granny)
1 Teaspoon kosher salt
3 Carrots-peeled and diced (save trimmings)
2 Celery stalks-diced (save trimmings)
1 Small onion-diced (save trimmings)
1/4 Cup butter-unsalted
1/2 Cup white wine
1/2 Cup all purpose flour
4 Cups chicken broth or stock-detailed below*
Egg wash (1 egg + 1 T water beaten together just before use)
2 Cups peeled diced potato (Cooked al dente in a saucepan with a little water and salt. Drain and set aside.)
3/4 Cup frozen peas or fresh asparagus (trimmed and diced) or broccoli florets (diced)
2 Tablespoons of chopped fresh parsley leaf
2 Crust pie crust, 9 inch
Salt and Pepper to taste

*If you use a rotisserie chicken use 4 cups of chicken broth. For the boiled chicken use 8 cups of water in creating the stock. This will be cooked down later. And 4 cups of stock will be used.

Boiled Chicken

Place chicken in a large stock pot. Pour in 8 cups of cool water. Add salt, trimmings from carrots, celery and onion. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer uncovered for 45 minutes. Transfer chicken to cutting board. Continue to cook down the chicken stock for 10 minutes. Pour stock through a fine strainer and remove the solids. Measure out 4 cups stock for this recipe.

Remove skin from the chicken. Shred the chicken into bite size pieces.

Putting it together

Now preheat the oven to 400 degrees. For a crispier bottom crust place the pie plate with the bottom crust into the preheated oven and bake until golden brown about 10 minutes. Don’t forget to weight down the crust or prick before baking. Remove and let cool.

In the meantime, melt the butter in the wine over medium heat in a medium/large saucepan. Add diced carrots, celery and onion. Add asparagus or broccoli if using. Cook these veggies for about 7 minutes. Sprinkle the veggies with the flour. Continue to cook stirring until all the flour is dissolved about 2 minutes.

Whisk in chicken stock. Stir to prevent lumps. Cook for about 10 minutes stirring constantly until this thickens like a cream soup.

Mix in potato, peas, parsley and shredded chicken. Taste to adjust salt and pepper. Remove from heat.

Roll out top crust.

Add chicken filling to the pre-baked bottom crust. Place the top crust and crimp. Make a slit in the top crust.

Brush top with egg wash.

Bake in your oven until top crust is golden brown about 25-35 minutes. Be sure and check beforehand to prevent top crust from getting too brown.

Remove from oven. Let cool at least 10 minutes before serving.