Chicken Pot Pie

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Recipe from Annie's Eats

This is the first recipe using my December Ingredient of the Month: Cream Cheese!! Cream Cheese was used in the pie crust of this recipe.

J has been wanting Chicken Pot Pie for a while now.  I've never made it, nor have I ever made pie crust.  So this was an adventure. :)

The finished product turned out really well!  I decided to make these in 2 (1.5 quart) corningware dishes, instead of individual servings. (I froze one to make another day.)  I swear J would've eaten a whole dish himself if he could have. :)

The pie crust, however, was a huge PITA!!  I made it in the food processor, and it never really came together in a ball.  So I put it in a ziplock bag and tried to form it into a ball that way.  It sort of worked, but as soon as I dumped it on the counter to roll out it fell apart.  I eventually made it work, but it definitely took a lot of effort.  While I think it turned out pretty good, next time I may be going store bought. :p

My changes: I skipped the bell pepper, added a turnip, used fresh carrots and just used about 3-4 lbs chicken breasts instead of a whole chicken.

Ingredients:
Filling:
3 T unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large russet potato, peeled and chopped
8 ou button mushrooms, sliced
1 turnip, peeled and chopped
2 carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 t crushed red pepper flakes
Salt & pepper, to taste
3-4 lbs cooked chicken breasts, shredded or chopped
1 c frozen peas

Sauce:
8 T unsalted butter
1 c AP flour
2 1/2 c chicken broth
1/2 c heavy cream (optional)
Dash of hot sauce
Salt & pepper, to taste

Pie Crust:
16 T cold unsalted butter
3 c AP flour
10 ou cream cheese, chilled
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
1 large egg

Directions:
To make the filling - melt the butter in a large skillet (with high sides) over medium heat.  Add the potato and onion to the pan and cook for about 5 minutes.  Add the garlic, carrot, turnip and mushrooms for about 15 minutes more, until tender.

Turn off the heat and mix in the chicken, frozen peas, red pepper and salt and pepper.

While filling cooks, prepare the sauce. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. Add the flour and whisk until smooth.  Whisk in the chicken broth and cook until it thickens to the consistency of a cream soup (whisking occasionally).

Mix in the cream, if using, hot sauce and salt & pepper. Pour the sauce over the chicken/veggie mixture and stir to combine. Spoon the mixture into your baking dishes (sprayed with cooking spray).

Preheat the oven to 375.

To make the crust - cut the butter into about 16 pieces and combine it with the flour in your food processor (fitted with the metal blade).   Pulse until crumbly.

Add the cream cheese, salt and pepper.  Continue to pulse until dough forms a ball. (As I mentioned above, this never really happened for me, so I placed it in a ziplock bag and formed it into a ball with my hands.)

Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Use a floured rolling pin to roll dough to about 1/4" thick.  Cut dough to be about 1 1/2" larger than the diameter of your baking dishes.

Lay the dough rounds on top of the baking dishes.  Beat the egg with a whisk, and brush over the tops of the dough.

Place in the oven and cook for about 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.