The real reason for learning how to make some “Never Fail” Pie Crust is for some ultimate comfort food like this Chicken Pot Pie. This is another one of those recipes that is not easy for me to pin point in exact ingredients or amounts as most of it is just kind of thrown into the “pot” at a whim. But I’ve done my best to recreate the last pot pie our family enjoyed. Choose as much or as little as you want of the following ingredients to customize to your family’s tastes.
Ingredients:
- 1 recipe of Never Fail Pie Crust, making two crusts
- anywhere from 1 chicken breast to a whole chicken, cooked and shredded
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 or 2 carrots, peeled and diced
- 1/2 to 1 can of corn
- 1 cup of frozen or fresh green peas (called cow peas here in Uganda)
- 1-3 potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2 inch pieces
- handful of trimmed and diced green beans
- handful of shredded cabbage
- 2 to 4 Tablespoons of butter
- 2 cups of milk
- chicken stock
- few Tablespoons of flour
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1/4 teaspoon oregano
- 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
- salt and pepper to taste
First prepare the pie crusts and set aside. It’s actually a good idea to chill them in the fridge a bit before hand. The cold will make the pastry dough even flakier. As you are gathering the ingredients for the pie filling, place one pie crust in a large pie dish, cover with a bit of tin foil or wax paper and top with a handful of beans. Put the crust in the oven for about 10-15 minutes to bake. The beans will help the crust not to bubble and rise. You can just remove the foil and beans when you remove the pie shell from the oven.
Meanwhile, start by making a basic white sauce: melt the butter, add the onion and garlic and cook until translucent, all the flour and mix until it forms a thick paste and then add milk. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. By now, this should look like a thick, white sauce. Now add in all the veggies you are using, seasonings and enough chicken stock just to barely cover everything in the pot. Bring to a boil again and continue to cook until all the veggies are tender. Stir in the chicken.
Pour the contents of the pot into the cooked pie crust. Top with the other pie crust and gently push down all around the edges. You can use a fork to help you because the pie tin and the filling will be really hot. Cut a few slits in the top of the crust and return to the oven until the top crust is nicely browned.
Serve on a day when you are really missing “home”. I guarantee it will make the challenges of the long African day melt away.
Gulu Gourmet 