Here’s the recipe from the Wellington on a Plate Bake Club extravaganza for the Meat or Vegetable Pie challenge. This is a Chicken Pot Pie, a comforting all in one winter meal! The original recipe can be found at Simply Scratch.
Chicken Pot Pies
Ingredients
Pies
500g boneless, skinless chicken breasts
115g butter
2 carrots, peeled and finely diced
2 celery stalks, finely diced
1 cup diced sweet potato/kumara
1 red onion, finely diced
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 recipe pie dough (below)
Pie dough
2 1/4 cups plain flour
1 tspn salt
230g cold butter, cut into cubes
6-8 Tbspn ice cold water
Directions
Poaching the chicken
- Place two to three chicken breasts in a glass baking dish. Cover the chicken with 3 to 4 cups of boiling water, seal it all in with aluminium foil and place in a 200°C oven to cook for 25-35 minutes.
- Remove the chicken to a cutting board to cool. When cool enough to touch, dice it into bite-size pieces.
Making the pies
- Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease six medium-sized ramekins with butter or olive oil.
- Roll the pie crust out and use a bowl (slightly larger than the ramekin), trace and cut out 6 circles, using the scraps to make more if needed. Keep the dough circles in the fridge so they stay cold.
- Melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed frying pan.
- Add in the diced carrots 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 falling apart.
- Now add in the remaining 6 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.
- Pour in the 3 cups of hot chicken broth and the 1-1/2 cups of milk. Let that simmer, stirring occasionally until thickened 5-8 minutes.
- Next add in the frozen peas, corn, cooked chicken, dried parsley and chopped fresh thyme. Stir. Taste add season further with up to a teaspoon more of salt and a little more black pepper if desired.
- Place the ramekins on a rimmed baking sheet. Evenly divide the diced cooked potatoes into each prepared ramekin.
- 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 edges. With a sharp knife make slits for ventilation.
- Slide the tray of pot pies into the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the crust is golden.
- Remove and let them cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Making the pie dough
- Combine the flour, salt and butter into a food processor and pulse until it’s crumbly. This can also be done by hand by whisking together the flour and salt and then rubbing the butter into the flour with your hands until it resembles bread crumbs. There are also pastry cutters that you can use if you don’t have a food processor but don’t want to get your hands dirty!
- Next add one tablespoon at a time (about 6-10 depending) the water to the dough, pulsing after each addition until it forms in to large clumps and resembles coarse wet sand. Bring together with your hands and knead for a couple of minutes. Divide into six, form into round disks and wrap into plastic wrap.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes to let it rest.
