Monday, January 4, 2016

Easy Chicken Pie

I said chicken "pie".  Notice there's no pot in it. I've never understood why anyone would call it chicken pot pie.

I'm not much for pie crusts, so chicken pie doesn't do much for me.  And I really dislike the store made chicken pies because they have too much crust and the chicken is usually too chunky.  Oh and the peas.  I like peas but not in my chicken pie.

Oh right, I just said I don't like chicken pie.

But I do like chicken "pie".  Maybe because it's faster than making a real crust.  Maybe because it tastes nothing like pie crust.  Or maybe because when I make it I am so stinking ravenous that I'd eat just about anything.

Probably it's just that it's so good, it should be outlawed in 47 states.


One day at lunch, someone was talking about making something similar, but she used phyllo dough instead of a crust or my biscuit manuever.  I don't love phyllo dough all that much either.  But she did talk about how she made the "gravy" and I'd never thought about adding some flour to thicken it.

Stand back.  The flour might have been the key  I was missing to pulling it all together.    It's delightlful when the filling gels just so.

Here's the ultra precise version of what I did.  I am sorry that I can't be more precise but I was hungry and well, I don't measure or count much when it's time to feed me.

A couple of carrots.  Mine were about the diameter of my thigh, so I think I used 3.
Celery- probably 5 stalks.  They were kind of short.
A whole yellow onion.

Saute those in some EVOO until they are somewhat soft.  Or until they smell good.  That's usually my tester.


Mix about a cup of low sodium chicken broth with about 2 tablespoons of flour and mix it well.  Pour it into the veggie mix.  Add some cooked chicken breast, probably what's left from a crockpot chicken.  I did one half of a breast of a small chicken. 

Let it cook for a few minutes.  I let it cook as I was chopping the chicken.  It kept thickening, so I kept adding broth.  So it was almost 2 cups of broth by the time I was ready to move on.  You could probably just turn down the heat or move it off the heat and not have to keep adding broth.  Or better yet, you could chop the chicken before it's time to add it so you don't have to keep adding broth or move it off the heat.

Whatever works.

Pour that into a 13x9 pan.  I wanted something deep but I didn't have anything deeper. 

Mix 1 T butter, 1 cup milk, 2 cups flour, 1 T baking powder.  It should be runny, so add more milk until it looks like this.


Pour the biscuit batter over the filling.


The recipe for the biscuits said 450 degrees for 12 minutes but it was more like 16 minutes.  Keep an eye on it after 15 minutes because you don't want it to burn but you want it cooked.

I will warn you, it's not neat and tidy like a pie when I put it on a plate.  But, I've never been one to care about presentation! 

I especially love it when the filling sneaks into the crust like this.



One of my favorite parts of an apple pie or a peach cobbler is when the crust gets a little bit like this, so of course I love it when the biscuit top gets like this too!

I was on my way home from the gym when I decided to make this.  I was starving and almost stopped to get a burrito from my favorite place, but I thought maybe this wouldn't take too long and it would be so much better for me.

I was right.  It took less than an hour for me to make it and eat it.

I can't vouch for the healthiness of this.  I used raw vegetables that were in the refrigerator, a box of low sodium chicken broth and chicken breast from a chicken that I cooked.  The biscuit has a lot less butter than suggested and I didn't put any salt in this.  Sounds pretty healthy, doesn't it?

If you can remember, you might add an herb or two but I forgot.  Plus, I usually add rosemary and I don't like rosemary and then I regret it, so this was probably a good thing to forget.  For everyone's sake.

I try to use very little salt when I cook.  K-ster is so used to it, he doesn't say much.  Once in a great while, I will add a little salt to my plate after I cook but most of the time I don't.  So, if you come to my house for supper, you might want to bring your salt shaker!

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