The smell of the crisp cool air and warm colors of the tree foliage could only mean one thing, chicken pot pie (okay it could mean more than one thing!). It is time to make chicken pot pie. Well, I can make it anytime, but every time I bake these.. It is always a reminder of how delicious it would be during a cold season. I want to thank my favorite chef, Ina Garten for her lovely recipe. I had to put my own twist on the recipe, just to be unique.

The top crust:
– flour
– corn meal (yes!)
– butter
– vegetable shortening
– cold water
– baking powder
– salt

The bottom crust:
– flour
– butter
– vegetable shortening
– cold water
– baking powder
– salt

I had to buy a large food processor, because my mini processor was just not worth the extra effort. I have my corn meal, flour, salt, and baking powder in the holder. It is important to have the butter and shortening to be extra cold. I pop the diced butter and shortening in the freezer before I drop them down the tube of the processor. Afterwards, I added iced cold water to meld the crust dough. I quickly knead the dough, onto a floured board for 30 seconds and then wrapped it in a plastic wrap. I let the dough sit in the fridge for about an hour. (I had added the corn meal to the recipe. I felt the crust is distinguished from the bottom crust, and it has that extra corn meal taste to the palate).

The filling:
– hand shredded chicken
– frozen sweet peas
– sliced carrots
– diced onions
– more diced onions – frozen
– parsley
– thyme
– chicken stock
– chicken bouillon
– salt & pepper
– flour
– butter

The filling is the best part! I love, love, LOVE the chicken to be shredded. It just gives it a more homemade feel to the pie. So yes, I sit there for about 20 minutes or so, just shredding a whole chicken by hand. By the time I am done, I just want to sit down and relax. But no, I have to persevere and continue this long process. The recipe book Ina Garten wants you to season the chicken and cook it, and then dice them. I like to roast my chicken with aromatic fresh herbs and garlic.

Following the recipe to make the filling itself –

The picture below is a mixture of butter, onion, and flour —

Hot chicken stock with chicken boullion on the side to add to the butter/onion/flour mixture.

After the filling is done, I went back to the dough and rolled it out to the right size of my ramekins. I did not like the ones I previously used.. So I went out and bought 4 pieces of square ramekins. I am a sucker for Le Crueset items! Aren’t they pretty?

So here is me rolling out the dough:

I scooped the filling into the dish carefully.

It was time to pull out the dough that has the corn meal mixture — This would be the crust (brushed with egg mixture and sprinkled kosher salt and black pepper):

Just crimping away~

After 1 hour of being in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.. Lovely…..

Here is my own plate of pie! SCRUMPTIOUS!

This is for my husband who loves eating this. Also for Raj, who also had his own dish, and had the “itis” afterwards (food coma). Haha!

The picture below is an old picture I took last year.  🙂