Belle's Recipe Box: Chicken Pot Pie

Mmmm...nothing says "I love you" more than a homemade chicken pot pie. This is a great meal to take to a sick friend, a new mom, someone that's just moved, or just make it to show your family how much you love them! I am attempting to freeze one of mine this time around (not baked) and see how it comes out - standby, I'll let you know!
I have a few shortcuts to making homemade pot pie. I don't, and never will, make my own crusts. I buy deep dish pie shells and pie crust tops that can roll over top.
I also use rotisserie chicken when it's on sale or I happen to be short on time. That chicken is so soft and moist! But, it's not always cheap or convenient if you don't want to go out. Yesterday I made chicken salad so I just baked off two extra chicken breasts for the pot pie today. An easy way to do this is slather chicken breasts (you can do either boneless-skinless or bone-in breasts) with EVOO and S&P and cook for about 25-30 minutes at 350 until juices run clear. Make sure to let your chicken rest before slicing or placing in the fridge.
This is also one of those recipes that you can put almost anything you like into. Don't like lima beans like our family does, leave 'em out! Add onions if you like them. Add mushrooms if you feel inclined! I also change up the seasonings. This time i used a smidge of garlic powder at the end and thyme leaves for a little zing. But it's delicious without any extras, too!

Ingredients:
1 russet potato, peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
Carrots cut up in bite sized pieces
Frozen peas
Frozen lima beans
Cooked Chicken breasts, cut up into pieces
2 deep dish pie crusts
2 pie crust tops
1 box chicken stock or broth
3T butter
3T flour
Splash of milk (Another bonus for this recipe: No heavy cream!)

Directions:

Start by boiling the potatoes and carrots together. Drain when cooked.

- Make a roux! Remember that fancy word from Lemon Spaghetti? It's the exact same principle, melt the butter, add the flour and whisk at med-low heat. Turn up the heat to med-high and whisk in chicken stock. Whisk on and off until mixture comes to a boil. Add in a splash or so of milk. Season the mixture with S&P and other seasonings of your choice (good ones are thyme, garlic, rosemary, chives, etc.) Wait until mixture boils enough to thicken. If roux is too thick, add more liquid (milk or stock.)

It just so happens that this time around my mixture did not thicken up as I normally like it to so I took 1T of butter, 1T of flour and mashed them together until you could not tell which was which and plopped it into the roux and whisked my arm off! Voila! No lumps, no raw flour taste and it thickened up nicely.

You do want the mixture to be a bit looser than say...a mac n cheese mixture, since things will tighten up in the oven and keep things moist for leftovers.

Add Chicken and Vegetables, stir.

Divide into two pies (or however much you end up making)

- Roll tops out and place on top of pie. Cut to fit and mash down with fork around the edges to seal. Cut slices on the top to let out steam. Brush on egg wash if you desire, I happen to have lost my pastry brush so I skip this step now (it'll just help it brown more.)
- Place in oven at 350 for 35 minutes or until bubbly and brown.
- Let cool before cutting into or everything will spill out (We never wait long enough though and it's a mess when we cut into but luckily we like taste over looks!) Remember, no worries if your mixture is a bit looser than you want, it just makes for better leftovers!