Individual Chicken Pot Pies
For my latest “Cooking with Friends” project I invited one of my longtime friends over to join me in the kitchen. Lynn wanted to share her recipe for Individual Chicken Pot Pies. She chose this recipe as one of her favorites because it represented “family”. Several years ago when she and her current husband were dating, she prepared this dish for not only him, but for his two sons. Being new in the relationship, learning to connect with his teenage sons was important. She knew she had been successful when one of the sons raved about how delicious the pot pies were. Since then he has asked her to make them again and again. What’s that old saying, “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”?
Lynn came to the relationship with two sons of her own. This gave Lynn plenty of opportunities to cook for her large group of guys. It wasn’t long until she began to gather everyone together for Sunday dinners. Now that all of the guys have become working young men, Sunday dinners can’t always happen due to their work schedules. So sometimes Monday night becomes their new family dinner time. And yes, Chicken Pot Pies are still a frequent request.
Lynn making the all important roux.
Lynn and I had such a fun evening, sipping wine and discussing food and family. One of the great things that happens when I have friends over to cook is that we end up learning new things. For instance, Lynn asked about the difference between chicken stock and chicken broth. We discussed how chicken stock is made with chicken bones that have first been roasted in a hot oven and then are combined with liquid and vegetables. Roasting the bones first results in a deeply flavored stock.
When it came time for her to cut out the puff pastry to top the ramekins, I suggested that she use one of the ramekins as her guide for cutting the perfect circle. This was a light bulb moment for Lynn. Now she says she won’t have to struggle piecing together pastry to make sure it covers each ramekin perfectly. She’d also never taken leftover scraps of dough to create a design. I showed her how to quickly make a few simple little leaves. We could have really gone crazy and made loads of other designs, but at this point we were about 2 glasses into some great white wine and needed to get the pies in the oven!
Lynn using the ramekin as a guide for cutting out the puff pastry.
A perfectly creamy sauce ready to sauce ready for the vegetables.
Filled each ramekin almost to the top.
Topped each with puff pastry and a little egg wash.
15 minutes later, the pastry is puffed up and golden, while the rest is hot and bubbly.
This recipe would be great for a small dinner party. You could make everything ahead (except for topping them with the puff pastry)…either the night before or the morning of the dinner. Cover them in plastic wrap and refrigerate. About an hour before you are ready to bake them, remove from the refrigerator and let them sit on the counter to get to room temperature. Then all you would need to do is cut out the pastry, place it on top and pop them into a 400 degree oven. As Ina Garten would say, “How easy is that”?
Individual Chicken Pot Pies
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
- 1 teaspoon dried sage leaves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup yellow onion, chopped
- 1 cup celery, chopped
- 1 cup carrots, chopped
- 1 cup button mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup red skin potatoes, chopped
- 2-3 cups cooked chicken, chopped
- 1 cup peas, thawed if previously frozen
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 package frozen, puff pastry (2 sheets)
- 1 egg, beaten with a teaspoon of water
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Set out frozen puff pastry to thaw slightly.
- In a large saucepan, set over medium heat, melt the butter.
- Add the flour and cook, whisking constantly for 3-4 minutes. This will create a light colored roux. Do not let flour brown.
- Slowly add the chicken stock, whisking until smooth.
- Bring to a boil and then add thyme, bay leaf, onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms. Cook until vegetables are almost tender (about 5 minutes).
- Add potatoes, chicken, peas, salt and pepper. Cook until potatoes are tender (about 5 - 8 minutes).
- Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove bay leaves and discard.
- While filling is cooling. Carefully unroll puff pastry on lightly floured counter. Using one of the ramekins, use it to cut out 8 circles. Use the leftover pastry to create decorative touches like leaves, circles, whatever.
- Place 8 (10 ounce) ramekins on baking sheet. Fill each ramekin almost to the top.
- Top each ramekin with puff pastry circle. Brush the puff pastry tops with egg wash.
- Bake in 400 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes. Watch closely until you the puff pastry is golden brown and the filling is bubbling.
- Carefully remove tray of pot pies from oven. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.
Notes
- The best, most tender and juicy pre-cooked chicken can be found from a roasted hen. Either roast a chicken yourself or pick up one at your local grocery deli. Simply remove the breasts and thighs from the cooked bird and cut into pieces.
- It's important that all vegetables are cut/chopped close to the same size for even cooking and distribution in the sauce.
