“There is nothing better on a cold wintry day than a properly made pot pie.”
Craig Claiborne
Part of the fun over at the cooking club is that on a night when you don’t know what to make for dinner there is a direction to head to with our guest chef assignments and recipes at least one or more nights a week.  Drawing a Monday blank on dinner and needing to focus on a comfort dish that warms one to the bones I decided on chicken pot pie and a nice Greek side salad…I have one Gourmet Cookbook, actually, 3 of them and one book is Ruth Reichl’s big thick 1000 recipe volume featuring loads of chef’s recipes that I purchased as used/in very good condition for about $8.oo a real bargain nice and clean, no damage, markings or not a smelly volume that one needs to air out for months if that even works…normally priced around $38.00 or more a bargain indeed and there is an unused cd that goes with it…don’t run from used books when you are poking around for something special.

So with that said I have tagged many recipes to try while Ruth remains our guest chef for 6 or so months, but I had planned on an adapted capon pot pie that I found that today is just a fantastic choice and loaded with shortcut options such as use a store-bought rotisserie chicken and frozen puff pastry…other basic thins frozen baby peas and I suppose that one could buy prepped carrots, onions, and celery, but not much work involved in dicing those ingredients and it made me feel as if I actually did something.  My “pantry item in the recipe is the Pinot Gris wine that we would finish off at dinner.

I also used my freezer stash of gourmet frozen mushroom blend that I found at Trader Joe’s and come in handy for mushroom lovers and I like mushrooms in my pie.

Capon or Chicken Pot Pie

2 celery stalks
2 medium carrots, peeled
1 large onion
4 tablespoons butter
fresh thyme or parsley
salt and pepper
leftover chicken or capon, shredded (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup flour
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup white wine
frozen peas
1 cup heavy cream
1 egg yolk
* Optional Store-bought Puff pastry if you don’t make your own for top crust only pie
6 ounces*Optional, Trader Joe’s mushroom medley blend

Dice 2 stalks of celery, 2 medium carrots, and onion.  Saute them in 4 tablespoons of butter for a couple of minutes. Add a teaspoon of salt, a few grinds of pepper, and a bit of chopped fresh thyme or parsley. Toss in your shredded bird, add a quarter cup of flour and stir for a couple of minutes until it’s nicely incorporated.

Add a good splash of white wine and two cups of chicken stock, stirring constantly. Add a small package of frozen peas.

Break an egg yolk into a cup of heavy cream, mix well, then stir some of the hot chicken mixture into the cream. Now slowly stir the cream mixture into the contents of the pan and stir, over low heat, for about 5 minutes.  It should become deliciously saucy. Taste for seasoning and pour into a casserole or deep-dish pie pan.

Cover with pastry, cut in a few slits to let the steam escape and bake in a preheated 400º oven for about half an hour until the crust is golden.

This will serve 6.

Pastry, just guessing double for a double crust pie

Put a cup and a half of flour into a bowl, sprinkle in a half teaspoon of salt and cut in a stick of cold butter.

Beat an egg into small bowl; pour out half, reserving to brush on the crust.  To the remaining half add 3 tablespoons of cold water and a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar.  Mix into the flour and butter mixture, then pat it into a small disk, wrap in wax paper, and set in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it.

Roll out the pastry until it’s a bit larger than the casserole or pie plate and fit over the chicken mixture, decoratively crimping the edges.  Stir a bit of water into the reserved half egg, brush over the crust, cut in a few slits and bake.