Chicken Pot Pie

Jared loves pot pies and I love cooking things he loves. He devoured this one, sputtering out Bob-like sounds and phrases from "What About Bob?" I was happy to make something that was cheaper than the Marie Callender's pot pies he eats when I'm gone. I'll make these again, and I'll be better at it, because this time it took me all day long. It was a little terrible so, let me first briefly explain my journey into pot pie hell and my subsequent atonement.

I tried to half the recipe, read the wrong section and added about five tablespoons too much butter to the vegetables (but really? is it really possible to have too much butter?), and just guesstimated the sauce and kept fiddling with it, and by the time I got to the pastry, the cubed butter had already softened a little too much, and the first pastry pass was terrible, so I realized that I was wasting my life in my kitchen while my son grew up, and took an hour out to play with him before regrouping to the kitchen, throwing out the original pastry dough (the zenith of my disaster), redoing it and then all of a sudden everything - pastry, pie, and kitchen cleanup - went together perfectly and easily, the pot pies were in the oven, and I was back where I truly wanted to be - passing a ball back and forth to my favorite little man in the whole world! And Jared came home, ate, and cleaned my sorry kitchen.

I guess that's my lesson from yesterday's experience. Enjoy the small things in life - all that really matters to me at this time is being Mom. Not cooking or cleaning or all of those things. I like a tidy home and good food. But my son cares right now that I play with him and I care that I watch him learn and grow and become a little man right before my eyes. It's going too fast, and I feel like a huge wind came and blew something effervescently sweet my direction and I can't breathe in enough to cover it and experience it all before it passes so quickly.

But back to pot pies. Here are my tips for a smoother process than I had:

- If you can, chop your veggies in the morning. I like getting that out of the way
- Follow the order of instructions
- Don't take the butter out until you're ready to make the pastry
- Have a food processor handy

Those tips sound obvious, right? Well, you're a better cook than I am. But as my daddy used to say, "Good judgement comes from experience, which comes from bad judgement." One day I'll be awesome.

Adapted from my sister-in-law, Kirsti's, food blog, these pot pies are true comfort food. Kirsti is one of the best cooks I know and my initial inspiration 10 years ago to become a good cook when the time called for it.

This recipe serves a family of three, making two large bowls of pot pie, along with two small bowls of pot pie.

For the filling:
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2  medium yellow onion, chopped
1/2 large russet potato, peeled and diced
1.5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
4 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
Salt and freshly ground pepper
1/2 rotisserie chicken
1/2 cup chopped carrots (or more)
1/2 cup chopped celery (or more)
1 cup frozen peas

For the sauce:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
½ cup heavy cream (optional)
Dash of hot sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper

For the crust:
8 tbsp. cold unsalted butter
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
4 oz. cream cheese, chilled
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 large egg

To make the filling, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and potato to the pan, and saute for about 5 minutes. Mix in the garlic, bell pepper and mushrooms, celery, and carrots and cook for about 15 minutes more, until the potatoes are tender. While the vegetables are cooking, remove the skin from the chicken, pull the meat off the bones and shred or chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Once the vegetables are finished cooking, turn off the heat and mix in the chicken and the frozen peas and carrots. Stir in the red pepper flakes, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To make the sauce, melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the flour and whisk until mixed. Whisk in the chicken broth quickly after. Cook over medium heat until it thickens to the consistency of a cream soup. Mix in the cream (if using), the hot sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add more chicken broth to have a soupier filling if needed. Pour the cream sauce over the chicken and veggie mixture and stir to combine well. Spoon the mixture into 2-4 individual oven-safe dishes (such as ramekins).

Preheat the oven to 375° F. To make the crust, cut the butter into 16 pieces. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the butter and flour until crumbly. Add the cream cheese, salt and pepper. Continue pulsing just until the dough forms a ball. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface. Use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut out dough rounds to be about 1½ inches larger than the diameter of your pot pie dishes. Beat the egg with a brush, and brush the rim of the bowl - this will act as an adhesive for the pastry. Lay the dough rounds on top of the individual dishes. Pinch pastry down along side of bowl. Make a little hole in the middle of the pastry to let steam out while baking.

Place the pot pie dishes on a baking sheet for easy transfer in and out of the oven. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown. Serve immediately.