One Skillet Chicken Pot Pie...Oh My

If you happen to ask me or my sous chef what one of our top 5 comfort foods would be, I guarantee you that we will both mention Chicken Pot Pie. Everything about it screams warmth and homey goodness: sensible and reliable vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, peas, surrounded by a warm, rich gravy, all covered in a lovely blanket of pastry.  How could you not love it?!

I confess that I have eaten my fair share of cheap, quick, crappy pot pies. When I lived on my own as a young adult on the wrong side of the train tracks (literally),  I thought it was perfectly reasonable to pick up one of those frozen industrial pot pies, pop it into the oven (or even better the microwave) for a few minutes, and voila, a quick budget friendly dinner. Full of salt and god knows what else. I cringe to think how I ate those flavourless pies with the cardboard pastry. Fortunately my taste has refined as I've aged. I learned how to cook AND I learned how to cook on a budget and still make food that is full of flavour using fresh wholesome ingredients. At least there are some perks to getting older and "wiser." Thank goodness.  But that's about it really sorry to tell you.

I have admitted before and I will admit again that anytime I see a recipe that states it's a "One-Pan" or "One-Skillet" dinner I am totally hooked.  I hate a mess and I hate cleaning up afterwards. I just want to cook and enjoy the rewards. I'm far too full and sleepy afterwards (especially after going back for thirds...oh dear) to be bothered with such domestic things like "cleaning the dishes." (Isn't that what the sous chef is for? Ha ha ha.) So to have a Chicken Pot Pie recipe all done up in one skillet? Sold! And it's insanely delicious. We honestly did go back for thirds and pretty much polished off the whole thing between the two of us (it's suppose to serve 6...yikes!) There may have been 1 piece left over... and it was really quite small. Oh dear. We are definitely not proud of our behavior but it felt necessary at the time. I also can't promise that we won't do it again either. It's freakin delicious.  Please don't judge until you've been in our shoes...which you will need to take off after you've eaten your fill of this pot pie .... as you head on over to recline in the Lazyboy chair, loosening your pants along the way ( I would highly recommend putting on your stretchy pants before you start cooking....another wise tidbit I've learned as I've gotten older.)

Stretchy pants. A glass of wine. Your favourite slippers. A reclining chair. Your favourite blankie (that your Mom knit you eons ago and it still smells like home. Sigh.) Chicken Pot Pie. Hello weekend, I've been waiting all week for you...Cheers from Bistro 164.

One Skillet Chicken Pot Pie

from Chatelaine Magazine

Takes about 45 minutes from start to finish
Super easy to make
So freakin delicious that you are guaranteed to go back for seconds...and let's be honest shall we, probably more like thirds.
Serves 6....or 2 if you are feeling extra gluttonous and are enjoying it immensely like we did...sooooo goooood and so very full.

Ingredients

3 tbsp butter
3 cups of diced leeks
1 tbsp chopped fresh tyhme
1/4 cup all purpose flour
3 cups reduced sodium chicken broth...or bump it up a notch with homemade chicken broth
450 g of skinless, boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces
2 cups of potato cut into 1/2 inch cubes
salt and pepper to taste
1 frozen deep dish pie crust, thawed
3 cups frozen peas and carrots (I changed this up a bit using fresh carrots, diced, as well as a cup or so of sliced fresh crimini mushrooms)

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 F

Turn your burner on to medium heat and melt the butter in a 9 inch oven safe frying pan. Toss in the leeks and thyme and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour. Cook for 1 minute, while stirring. Gradually stir in the chicken broth. Toss in the chicken and potato and fresh carrot...and the mushrooms if you've chosen to add those in as well (I highly recommend them!) Add in some salt and pepper. Bring the pan to a boil, then reduce the heat to  medium and simmer for about 10 minutes.

Add in the frozen peas (I've also used edamame or lima beans just to change it up a bit.) Continue cooking until the chicken is no longer pink and until the potato is fork tender, around 3-5 minutes.

Place the pasty over the top of the pan and all the filling. Cut a few steam vents onto the surface of the crust.  Bake in the oven until it's a nice golden brown colour, 10-15 minutes depending on your oven.

Serve and enjoy the savoury flavour. Cheers!