Chicken Pot Pie
Not quite as difficult as the first US published recipe for Chicken Pot Pie in 1824, modernly prepared pie crusts and condensed soups make assembly a snap, but the results indeed taste old fashioned and homemade.
The Egyptians, Greeks and Romans had dishes combining grains, meats and dough, but the idea of enclosing meat in dough emerged in medieval England in the 12th Century as a means to preserve food, and the pastry container wasn't intended to be eaten.
By the 14th Century, meat pies, or "pyes" appeared in a very early manuscript compiled around 1390 during the reign of King Richard II of England. The manuscript was a contribution by any number of nameless professional cooks serving the royal household who documented recipes to standardize and share their culinary practices. The manuscript was published in 1780 by Samuel Pegge, a antiquarian and clergyman, who edited and published the text with commentary and titled the book, Forme of Cury. The word "forme" refers to method or procedure, and the word "cury" comes from the old French "cuire," meaning "to cook." So the title translates to something like, The Method of Cookery.
If one had to make a Chicken Pot Pie from scratch, it would be quite an undertaking. Think about it. The chicken would have to be stewed with the vegetables and then the chicken would have to be de-boned and chopped. Then, the broth would have to be strained and thickened into a light, smooth creamy sauce, what the French would call a Sauce Velouté. Then, you'd have to make the crust from scratch, finally assembling everything in a pie pan and baking. It would be a day-long event at the very least.
The Virginia House-Wife, 1824
The first known printed recipe in the US came from an 1824 printing of The Virginia Housewife, and it outlines just such an ordeal. What it left out was the preceding steps in order to get the food even ready to cook, like milling the wheat for flour, slaughtering and butchering the chicken, pulling the carrots and potatoes up from the earth, gathering the pea pods, churning the butter, milking the cows. An undertaking, indeed.
Luckily for us in these moderns times that you can have about the same flavor and deliciousness without nearly so much work, but have something worthy of a dinner menu for guests. Assembling this dish isn’t nearly so difficult as it would have been 200 years ago, or even a hundred, but it is vastly superior to the frozen chicken pot pies you see in their glacial state in the frozen food section of your grocery store.
This is My Number One Fan’s recipe and is comfort food at its finest!
Chicken Pot Pie
Ingredients
- 2 refrigerated pie crust sheets (like, Pillsbury)
- 4 boneless chicken thighs
- 2 cups chicken broth (like, Swanson's)
- 1 can condensed cream of potato soup (like, Campbell's)
- 1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (like, Campbell's)
- 2 cups frozen mixed green peas & carrots, thawed (like, Bird's Eye)
- 1 tsp Morton Nature's Seasons Seasoning Blend
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp rubbed sage
Instructions
- Over medium high heat, gently simmer the chicken thighs in a saucepan with the chicken broth and the Nature's Seasons Seasoning Blend until cooked, 25-30 minutes.
- Remove the thighs from the broth and set aside on a cutting board to cool. Reserve 1/3 cup of the broth and discard the rest.
- Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, chop and shred the thighs into bite size pieces and place back into the saucepan with the 1/3 reserved chicken broth. Add the two cans of soup, the onion powder and sage, then stir well to combine. Heat to a simmer.
- Pre-heat the oven to 425°F.
- Microwave the frozen vegetables according to package directions. Then, using a rubber spatula, gently fold the peas and carrots into the chicken and soup mixture. When the mixture is hot and bubbly, remove from the stove.
- In a 10" Pyrex glass pie dish, lay out one sheet of the pie crust and press it in to follow the contour of the side of the baking dish. Use a fork to poke a few holes in the pie crust.
- Spoon in the chicken mixture. Top the dish with the second pie crust and use a dinner fork to seal and crimp the edges of the crust.
- With a sharp knife, pierce the top crust in eight one-inch cuts. This will allow the mixture to adequately vent steam so the crust properly cooks.
- Bake on the top rack of your oven for 40 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.
- Let stand 3-5 minutes before slicing into wedges and serving.
Notes
- You can substitute 2 boneless, skinless chicken breast for the thighs.
- You can also substitute two cups of chicken de-boned from a store-bought rotisserie chicken.
