Friday, February 20, 2009

Comforting Chicken Pot Pie (feat. Photographer Dani Vest)



I got this most fabulous recipe from one of my e-BFFs, Dani. I have since wowed many men with it (my own man, and to the chagrin of the other mens' wives. Ha!) (Totally kidding) (Well, kidding about the snotty "chagrin" part, not about the "wow" part)

I have made a few "personalizations" to Dani's original recipe, and have been meaning to post it for a while, but I think pictures are important on recipe posts, and that's been the main hold up. I'm too lazy to make the recipe tonight just so that I can get some good pictures, so I hope she won't mind that I'm borrowing her pictures for this post.  I promise if you follow the recipe, yours will turn out looking just as beautiful as these pics!

Ingredients


2 pie crusts
3 chicken breasts (or you can buy a rotisserie chicken at the grocery and shred it up)
5 new potatoes (the red kind)
2 can Cream of Chicken soup
1 lb. bacon
1 bag frozen peas and carrots - thawed
1 sweet onion - diced
butter
egg


1. Heat oven to 450

2. Chop the entire package of bacon into one-inch chunks. Add to a frying pan and cook until crispy. Move cooked bacon to a paper towel. Dispose of the grease, but don't wash the pan!

3.Wash and dice the potatoes (don't skin them!) Throw them into a pot of boiling water and add a chicken bullion cube (or not, if you're watching your sodium)

4. At the same time, put the chicken breast into another pot of boiling water.

5. While those are cooking, grab a pie dish (the biggest one you can get your hands on, this pie is huge!) and put the bottom crust in. Bake it in the oven for 8-10 minutes or just until it's golden brown. This prevents a soggy-bottom pie. When you pull it out, turn the oven down to 400.



6. Add a bunch of butter to your post-bacon frying pan. Like, a lot. Half a cube (this is where the man-pleasing comes into play) Dice the onion and saute it in the butter. When they become somewhat translucent, take them off the heat and set them aside.

7. By now your chicken and potatoes are done. Potatoes are done when they break apart when you stick a fork in them and twist. Strain the potatoes. Shred the chicken into bite-sized chunks. (I use two enormous forks. It's kind of a workout, but don't worry about losing too much weight, because remember all that butter? Yeah.)

8. Get the biggest mixing bowl you own. Combine the chicken, potatoes, peas & corn (just throw them in there frozen, they'll thaw within a few seconds with all that other hot stuff), onions, bacon and the Cream of Chicken soup cans. Use a big rubber spatula or wooden spoon to stir it all up (be patient. go slow or you'll make a huge mess)

9. Spoon the entire mixture into the pie.



10. Add the top pie crust and trim, slice, and accessorize the top to your liking ;) (At least a few slits in the top to allow steam to release while baking)

11. Whisk one egg with a fork and brush it over the top. (This is more for presentation than taste. It's what'll give your crust that Betty Crocker glow)



12. Bake 40 minutes on top rack.



Seriously?

Seriously.

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