Pot Pie in the Sky!

On a list of All American meals there are some classics, such as hot dogs, and hamburgers, but another meal that seems to be up there on any All American list is a chicken pot pie.  

(p.s. this is a close up of the good crust!)

I had to do some experimentation with this recipe, mostly the crust.  I was not too thrilled with the crust that I used the first night, that I used to make two mini pot pies (normal size from a store freezer section), and my breakfast-a-go-go apple pies.  On my third day of making pies, I finally got it about right.  My crust challenge was making a good pie crust when I have none of the traditional main ingredients.  I have whole wheat flour, and olive oil, no white flour, no cold butter, no lard.  

Anyway, before I post the recipe that I wound up using and LOVING, I made pot pies for two days using the filling that I made three days ago.  Let me tell you how I made my filling.  

First I cooked three chicken breasts on the stove in a frying pan.  While those were cooking, I washed, peeled, and sliced up three medium/large sized potatoes.  I used the same pan as the chicken and started frying them up like hash browns.  

Honestly, I don't usually use potatoes in my pot pie, but I was trying to
stretch the chicken as much as I could because we are fairly poor this week.

As I started frying up the potatoes, I used my mandolin to slice up one carrot the same size as the potatoes. Then I sliced up two onions, and one crown of broccoli.  

I added about a tablespoon of garlic in with this, and added it to the pan with the potatoes after the potatoes had started to get soft.  I then cooked it until the onions looked opaque, the broccoli turned bright green, and the carrots were just slightly soft and also brighter.  I mixed in the chicken, and took it all off of the stove.  In the bowl, I added extra Garlic Garlic seasoning from Tastefully Simple, pepper, some thyme, and some rosemary (my first pies were a bit bland so I added this on the second day).  While in the bowl, I also added a drained can of corn to the vegetable/chicken mixture.  

Next I made a roux with two cups of chicken broth (for me two cups of water mixed with two tablespoons of no sodium chicken bouillon), a cup of (almond) milk, flour and oil.  

To make the roux, first you add some oil to the pan.  sprinkle flour in while whisking.  

Slowly add in the broth (that's the yellow) and the milk while whisking quickly.  Once you have a good chicken gravy going, you add the veggies and chicken back, mixing it all together very well.  

Next you prepare your pie crust.  This is the first pie crust I used, although I am not very happy with it.  

I am including it however, because this is the one I used in the photos below. 

After I made my filling, I made two small pot pies using this recipe, and they wound up being lunch for the next day.  Then that night, I pulled out the filling, and made a big pie.  

I do not have any pie plates, so I wound up using a glass baking dish, however it is rather deep, so I had a BIG pie!  I learned on my little apple pies that this crust needs to be very thin.  I was having a difficult time rolling it out so thin, so I actually ran it through my pasta roller on setting 1, then went down to setting two.  

 I ran through a few strips, then used my rolling pin to seal the seam in the center.  It was actually difficult to do, because the dough is so oily that it didn't stick to the rollers.  I had to roll it as thin as I could, then it would finally go through and get even thinner.   

Then I put it in the pan,

and baked it on 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, just to make sure the bottom crust got fully cooked.  

Next I filled the crust, 

and I thought I would add just a little salt by adding some provolone on top!

I covered the top with more crust, but my edges were not pretty at all, considering I had already pre-baked the bottom and could not adjust that now.  

I baked it for another 25 minutes until the top changed color and the middle was hot.

It turned out pretty dang good I have to admit!  

I do miss peas!  They would have been a very nice addition to this recipe, however, they are just about impossible to find in Korea.  

I have to admit, it could have had a little more gravy, but I think it was moist enough (at least with the second crust I used on day three).  I think the difference is I didn't have the thick cream sauce that many gravies have from store bought pies, so it was a bit lighter, even with the heavy crust.

Today, I had enough filling to make one more mini pie, so I tried another pie crust recipe, and this was my lunch today.  The pie recipe I used today can be found at Yummily.com.  I chose to try this whole wheat and olive oil recipe because it had some baking powder in it, and I thought this might be a better recipe to try for some light flakiness.  The first recipe was not bad, but it was not flaky at all.  It was VERY dense for a pie crust!  I am in love with this (2nd) recipe, and used it to make some small peach pies also.  (I might post those later).

Anyway...the recipe:

Filling ingredients:

3 medium/large potatoes

3-4 chicken breasts (maybe 500 grams)

1 can of corn

1 crown of broccoli

2 medium sized onions

1 large carrot

1-2 tablespoons minced garlic

2 cups chicken broth

1 cup milk (I used almond)

8 tablespoons olive oil

5 tablespoons flour

Thyme

Rosemary

Garlic seasoning

Pepper 

(all of the seasonings to taste)

2 slices of provolone (optional)

Crust ingredients:

2/3 cup olive oil

2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup ice water

1 tablespoon of vinegar (I used apple cider vinegar)  

filling

Fry your chicken in a frying pan using a little oil on the bottom of pan.  Once it is cooked all the way through, remove from the pan and let rest. Wash, peel, and chop up potatoes, and add them to the pan the chicken came out of and turn the heat to medium .  While they are cooking, cut up the carrots, broccoli, garlic, and onions.  When the potatoes get a bit soft, add the veggies and saute until they are all hot, and the veggies start to change colors.  Slice the chicken up and add it back to the pan.  Pour in a drained can of corn, and remove from the heat and cover until your pie crust is ready. Follow directions on Yummily (see below also) for the crust. Once you have the pie crust done, fill with the filling.  Put two slices of provolone over the top and cover with the top crust. Be sure to put a few holes in the top to let steam out while baking. Bake for 25 minutes until the top crust is done, and the inside is hot.  

crust:

1	Place olive oil in the freezer until it solidifies and is of a consistency similar to thick honey. (I checked it every 30 minutes or so. I'm not sure how long it took. Probably 3 or 4 hours.).
2	Once the olive oil solidifies place flour, salt and baking powder into a food processor and pulse a few times to mix. Add remaining ingredients and pulse until a dough ball forms. Place ball in an air tight container or plastic wrap and put in the fridge for an hour or so to chill. (I left it overnight).
3	Roll ball out until 1/8 inch thick and put into a pie plate. Use as you would a regular pie crust. I prebaked it before adding the quiche filling.