This recipe is delicious and I loved it. I loved it even more because I prepped some of the ingredients the night before so when it was time to make dinner, it was effortless. I made a couple of adaptations to ease the original recipe and I will note what I did ahead of time to make this dinner prep super easy!
Ingredients:
1 small Rotisserie chicken, about one pound of actual chicken once diced
1 stick of butter, divided
2 whole large carrots, peeled and diced small
2 celery stalks, diced small
1 cup diced cooked potatoes, diced small (leave the skin on for less work!)
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and diced small
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
3 cups chicken broth, warmed
1-1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup flour
2 teaspoons Kosher salt, more or less to taste
1/2 teaspoons black pepper, more or less to taste
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2-3 boxes of Pillsbury pie crust, depending on how much crust you like hanging off! (Next time, I'll get three.)
6 (10-ounce) Ramekins (You can also put in a large casserole dish and share crust. Not my style, but it will work!)
Directions:
Here's what I did the night before:
1. Dice the Rotisserie chicken into bite size pieces and refrigerate.
2. Unroll the store-bought pie crust out, use a similar-sized bowl to ramekin {or set down ramekin on crust} and cut generously larger around it. Trace and cut out 6 circles, using the scraps to make more if needed. Keep the dough circles in the fridge in a Ziploc (I put wax paper in between so they wouldn't stick) and keep cold.
3. Dice the carrots, onion, and celery. The onion and celery can be stored together, but store carrots in separate storage bag. They need to cook before the other two veggies.
3. Dice the carrots, onion, and celery. The onion and celery can be stored together, but store carrots in separate storage bag. They need to cook before the other two veggies.
4. Measure out your frozen veggies (peas and corn) and store back in freezer.
Here's what I did at dinner time:
5. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees and grease six 10-ounce ramekins with butter or olive oil. (Again, if you don't want to use ramekins, you can use a 9 x 13 dish. If you don't have six ramekins, put some in ramekins and put the rest in a small casserole dish! I didn't have six ramekins that were all the same size, so I filled all different sizes. Great next day for lunch!)
6. Dice some potatoes. I used about 6-8 red potatoes (they're small) and kept the skin on. Place them in a pot of cold water and boil until fork tender. Drain.
7. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large Dutch oven.
8. While the potatoes cook, place diced carrots into Dutch oven and cook for 5 minutes. Add in the diced onion and celery and season with a teaspoon of kosher salt and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Cook until the onions are soft and translucent and the carrots are soft {but not too soft...they'll cook more in the oven!}.
9. Now add in the remaining 5 tablespoons of butter and let that melt. Once melted, add in the half cup of flour and stir often while it cooks for 2 minutes.
10. Pour in 3 cups of hot chicken broth (you can heat this in microwave or on the stovetop) and the 1-1/2 cups of whole milk. Let that simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened, 5-8 minutes.
11. Next, add in the frozen peas, corn, cooked chicken, dried parsley, and chopped fresh thyme. Stir. Taste. Season further with up to a teaspoon more of salt and a little more black pepper if desired.
12. Place the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Evenly divide the diced cooked potatoes into each prepared ramekin. DO THIS BEFORE ADDING THE CHICKEN POT PIE MIXTURE!
13. Spoon the pot pie filling evenly over the potatoes, filling the ramekins to the brim. Let them cool down a bit before placing the pie dough over top and crimping the edge to seal. With a sharp knife, make 2-3 slits for ventilation.
14. Slide the tray of pot pies into a preheated 375 degree oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden. (If desired, brush with an egg wash. No biggie!)
15. Remove and let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Omg, enjoy!
*Adapted from www.simplyscratch.com