Chicken Pot Pie

Today was day 2 of being snowed in at the McFarland household! I love being at home so I really have no complaints. Yesterday, everyone's status on Facebook was talking about how much they loved the snow and how excited they were to be snowed in. Today, everyone's status was talking about cabin fever and how over the snow they were. I guess you can't please them all! I hate cold weather and snow but if you don't have to go anywhere, its kind of nice to just sit in the house in PJs all day, drinking coffee and enjoying the scenery. Another plus is plenty of time for cooking! I made homemade peanut butter cookies with Hershey kisses this morning. I ate so many of them I'm going to take on the shape of a snowman soon! Tonight for dinner I wanted something hearty that would warm us up so I did chicken pot pie. So tasty! I've made it once before but of course didn't pay attention to measurements. This time I did so it should be pretty easy to re-create. The first time I made it, I did one big pie. This time I wanted to use my new individual soup crocks so I made individual pies. The recipe works either way. Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

1 whole 3-4 lb chicken
EVOO
Salt and pepper
2-3 ts garlic powder
2-3 ts dry thyme

4 Tbls butter
1/2 large yellow onion
2 carrots
2 celery stalks
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 Tbls flour
3 cups chicken broth (For homemade recipe, click here)
2-3 ts dry thyme
Salt and pepper
1 store bought or homemade pie crust
1 egg
1 Tbls water
Fresh grated parmiggiano reggiano

Preheat oven to 350. Rinse and pat chicken dry. Place chicken in a roasting dish and rub with olive oil. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and thyme. Bake about one hour to one hour 15 min, until chicken is cooked through. Remove from oven and cool. When chicken has cooled, remove both white and dark meat and shred either by hand or using 2 forks. Set shredded chicken aside for now. (Save and freeze chicken carcass for next time you make chicken broth!)

Increase oven temperature to 450. In a large stock pot, melt butter over medium heat. Dice onions, carrots and celery finely and to about the same size. Add to pot and saute until veggies are soft but not mushy, about 5-10 minutes. Add diced garlic and dry thyme, and cook another minute or two. Add flour and stir to incorporate. Add chicken broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly. Mixture will be quite thick at first. Keep stirring so that you don't get lumps. Once you've added all the broth, add shredded chicken. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let simmer about 10 minutes. Spoon mixture into individual oven-proof bowls or into one large baking dish. Cover with pie crust, pinching edges around edge of dish. In a separate bowl, beat egg with 1 Tbls water to make egg wash. Brush pie crust with egg wash and sprinkle with parmiggiano. Place bowl(s) on a baking sheet (in case they spill over) and bake at 450 10-12 minutes, until crust is slightly browned.

(Pictured with leftover polenta from last night, cut into squares and fried in olive oil heated over medium-high heat. For recipe, click here.)