The Kidlet was having a friend over for dinner the other day and I wasn't sure what they liked, so I tried to play it safe with this chicken pot pie. I hoped it would be a fairly... unintimidating dish without any overly strong flavours or unusual ingredients. The Kidlet certainly liked it! I may need to work on dailing things in with the friend a bit, but it was a decent start.

In theory this is meant to make one 9" pie. In practice, I ended up with more filling than would fit in a 9" pie plate, so I ended up making an additional 4 small pies by pouring the excess filling into ramekins and topping them with a bit of the extra pastry.

Chicken Pot Pie

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

Pastry

• 210g all-purpose flour
• 6 Tbsp. shortening or lard
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/3 c. cold water

Filling

• 1 c. sliced carrots
• 1 c. fresh or frozen peas
• 1 c. fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 500g skinless boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 c. chicken stock
• 1/2 c. dry white wine
• 1/2 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 small egg
• 2 tsp. water

Directions

1. Cut the butter and shortening into the flour.
2. Mix in the water, 1 Tbsp. at a time, until the dough comes together.
3. Shape into a ball, wrap tightly, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, cook the carrots in salted water until tender-crisp (~3 minutes).
5. If using fresh peas and corn, boil them for ~1 minute. If using frozen, just add them to the boiling water and then immediately remove from heat. Drainth eveggies and set aside.
6. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
7. Melt the butter over medium heat.
8. Add the chicken, season to taste with salt and pepper, and cook until browned on all sides (8-10 minutes).
9. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened (2-4 minutes).
10. Add the flour and cook for another minute or two.
11. Pour in the broth, wine, cream, and parsley and bring to a simmer.
12. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes.
13. Add the veggies and adjust seasoning to taste.
14. Pour the filling into a 23cm (9") deep dish pie plate. (You may have some extra.)
15. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.
16. Beat the egg with the water and brush a little egg wash around the edges of the pastry, then place the pastry, egg-side-down, over the pie.
17. Press pastry to adhere and crimp edges.
18. Brush the top of the pie wiht more egg wash and cut one or more small holes or slits in the crust.
19. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 200°C (400°F) for ~30 minutes.