Chicken Pie

While I was at Cindy Lee's, I spied a new recipe I wanted to try. When I returned to The Homestead, Mom mentioned she wanted to use up some leftover chicken and I told her I had an idea and all it required to be put on the grocery list was pie crust! She was happy to let me have at it and a little after 4PM I started melting 1/2 C butter (ok, I used Smart Balance) in the cast iron skillet. Its a good Southern recipe and though it has exact measured ingredients I thought the write up left a lot to be desired so I am not including one at the end - and I am telling you the substitutions I made along the way - because it is just that kind of recipe that allows for leeway....

Once the butter melts, add 1/2 C of flour and blended in till smooth.
This step is works like a charm with the little mini-whipper you see above.

Add 4 C of chicken stock blend till smooth again.

After a bit of heating on medium high it begins to thicken slightly....

Add a pint of half and half and blend in till smooth again. Ok, my confession - we had just a bit more than a 1/2 pint of heavy cream in the fridge. I topped it off w/ some 2% milk, shook it and used it for the sauce - the point was to use up stuff we had on hand, right? Next time, I'll cook this step longer and let it thicken even more - it was a little runny when the pie was baked.

Pie crust put in the pie plate, I added the pie bird before filling so he could vent away steam and then the chicken pieces were added. And yes, we did supplement the leftover chicken with a chicken breast we got at the Amish Farmer's Market and I steamed up prior to the documented sauce making above. Now, true confession - I do make a mean flaky pie crust, my grandmother taught me how but sometimes having the Pillsbury Dough boy as a sous chef is just the ticket.

I added a layer of chopped onion and mushrooms that were hanging about the fridge and waiting to be used. The recipe did not call for it - but my family never met a mushroom we didn't like in our food! Over that I poured the sauce but didn't manage to get it all in there before it started overflowing.

Add the top layer of pie crust, crimp close and cut a few more slits to vent steam before brushing with an egg wash (1 egg white mixes with 1 T water) Pop in a hot 350 degree oven.

Bake till crust browns - I discovered this was about 45 minutes allow to set a little before serving. We had it with a string bean/cucumber/onion salad and almost 2 dozen cherry tomatoes plucked off the vine while the pie was baking. I really don't ever recall picking tomatoes as late as October 2nd! It's another winner of a recipe and the extra sauce that didn't make it into the pie is a good candidate for a cream of chicken soup over the next week or so with a can of chicken to give it some meat.