Chicken Pot Pow...in your face

Exactly one week ago, I went over to Mattelina's house for some homemade chicken pot pie and some other wonderfulness. It was delicious. I'd been meaning to make it for a long time, but, as usual, was scared that I'd F it up. After witnessing it being made, I felt more assured...and after having it at their house, I began slightly obsessed and have been thinking about trying it out ever since.

So, it took me just one week to cave. From there, I went from inspiration to creation. This recipe is a hybrid of many I have read, including Mattelina's. Also, I'd like to share a few mistakes for you to avoid, as these caused the making of this goodness to take hours rather than about 1 as it should (including cooking).

Avoid...

1. Not having all of the ingredients ready to go (thus not having to go to the grocery store mid-creation)
   
2. Deciding to toss in another ingredient that should've been made at the same time as most of the rest
3. Forgetting to defrost the frozen pie crusts
4. Thinking you know how to judge cutting a pie crust to make it fit
5. Etc.

Warning: Most of the ingredients/directions are approximations, but just add as much as you want and test it out as you go to perfect. Also, I made a pot pie that could probably serve about 3 people...pretty small just in case it didn't turn out how I wanted. This was an experiment gone right.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 T butter/margarine
• 1/2 small white onion, chopped
• 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium sized potato, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 5 carrot sticks, chopped (I got pre-cut sticks b/c it was cheap and I didn't need much!)
• About an oz or so of scallions, chopped
• SMALL bunch of broccoli, chopped (See! I put some in, Deavo!)
• As many small pulled pieces of chicken from a ready made rotisserie chicken as you want (leftovers are always good)
• 3/4ths a can condensed cream of chicken soup w/ herbs
• 1/2 can of chicken gravy (or just make it yourself...more time)
• 1/4th can of chicken broth (this was low sodium...probably a good call considering the salt already in the condensed soup and gravy)
• A splash of light cream
• About 1/3rd cup milk (skim in this case)
• 2 pie crusts (although making it yourself is GOOD)
• 1 egg, beaten
• Sea salt, ground black pepper, white pepper, parsley, and thyme to taste

Directions:

Bottom Crust:

1. Pre-heat oven to 450
2. Put bottom layer of pie crust in bottom of a baking or casserole pan
3. Beat the egg in a small bowl, then brush some over bottom pie crust
4. Bake at 450 for about 8 minutes

Filling:

1. Melt butter in bottom of pot
2. Chop all vegetables
3. Cook onions, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, and scallions in the butter with a few dashes of salt/pepper for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat
4. Add condensed soup, gravy, chicken broth, light cream, and milk and boil for another few minutes until potatoes are done and sauce is at desired consistency (if you want it thicker, add more condensed soup/gravy; thinner, add more broth/milk...you do want it a little on the thinner side because it'll cook more in the oven)
5. Toss in the broccoli (I like to do this later b/c I hate overcooked broccoli)
6. Sprinkle in a few pinches of thyme, ground black pepper/white pepper/salt to taste
7. When bottom pie layer is finished, add in the filling
8. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees
9. Cover with top layer of pie crust and try to pinch together pie seams
10. Brush top layer of pie crust with remainder of beaten egg
11. Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes or until golden brown
12. Take pictures as it cools
13. Post on own blog
14. Tell me