On a recent dark and stormy night I was about to go through the motions of whipping up an uninspired stir fry of chicken, peas, onions, carrots and some celery for crunch, but it didn’t seem like a warm, inviting meal for a soon-to-be-fall night. It’s not that I harbor any illusions that coming home to our house every night is a journey to Martha-in-Wonderland, but a big part of welcoming a seasonal change is making seasonal meals. Fall demands comfort from the kitchen – and chicken pot pie is nothing but warm comfort.
Here is something to keep in your freezer at all times of the year – a package of puff pastry. This is essential, Home Ec 101 information. Write it down. In cursive! Or tell Alexa to remind you the next time you go to the Trader Joe’s: “Buy puff pastry.”
I have used store-bought pie shells in the past because I am hopeless at home made. Everyone at our table would politely shovel the chicken concoctions into their hungry little mouths. But the puff pastry makes this pie an occasion! Especially when I fashioned cunning fall leaves out of the extra dough. Sometimes the details matter. It was spectacular! It was as if Jiffy Pop Pop Corn had waved a magic wand over my chicken pie ordinaire, and puffed it upward and outward with importance and historical significance. Well, it looked very pretty when it came out of the oven, and was warmer and more presentable than that pedestrian chicken stir fry would ever have been.
I used the same ingredients that would have gone into the stir fry, with the addition of the puff pastry, and some chicken broth. And a little flour. I’ll trot out some other recipes for you later – but you need to keep it simple, for your own sanity. I read one recipe that wanted me to weave strips of pastry into a latticework on top of the pie. That was sheer foolishness. The puff pastry rises and looms like ocean cliffs – do not diminish that drama by getting all mimsy and crafty. Use that time you would have been weaving pastry strips (like those long ago camp pot holders) wisely. Dig out the latest Colorblends catalogue and start figuring out your daffodil planting strategy. Spring is coming.
I poached a boneless chicken breast, although if you have a leftover roasted chicken, you can pull off enough meat for a pie for two people. After poaching the breast, I chopped it up and shredded it – then I chopped up a couple of carrots, some celery, and half an onion, and tossed them into a frying pan with some butter for a few minutes. The onion should be translucent and fragrant. Then I added a handful of flour and 2 cups of chicken broth for the roux, and then the chicken. (Shhhh! Sometimes I skip the flour and the broth and just add Campbell’s Cream of Chicken Soup and a little milk. Campbell’s version) After everything heated up and bubbled along nicely, I poured the mixture into my cute little Le Creuset baking dish that I scored when trolling through Homegoods one day. It’s amazing what you can find sometimes… But a pie pan works just as well. I almost forgot, again, that the pastry dough needs to thaw first. So put that at the top of your list – THAW PASTRY!!! It takes about half an hour, at least at this time of year.
Roll the thawed dough out on a floured surface, just to take out the creases. Then lay it on top of your pan, and with kitchen shears, or even your office Fiskars, trim the excess dough, leaving about half an inch hanging over the edge of the pan, for drama. And if you feel so inclined, cut some autumnal leaves out of the pastry remnants. Don’t forget to wash the top of the pie with a little egg and water mixture – you will get a nice glossy top. IG perfect! Then remember to cut a few slits in the dough to let steam escape during the baking process.
Put the pastry-topped pan on top of a cookie sheet, and pop in a 375°F oven for about 30 to 35 minutes. See – you didn’t need to waste your time basket weaving at all. And now you have an extra moment to fiddle with Wordle, or chill the wine, or to watch last night’s Jimmy Kimmel.
Here’s Martha’s take, although she spends quality time worrying about the crust. “Pshaw!” I say! Martha’s Chicken Potpie
This chicken and leek pie reminds me of the time I lived in London, when I would order an individual pie at Porter’s Restaurant in Covent Garden. It seemed so novel, and so sophisticated, to my frozen Stouffer’s Chicken Pot Pie-trained palate. Ah, youth! Pardon Your French
“Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken.”
-Jonathan Swift
Jean Dixon Sanders has been a painter and graphic designer for the past thirty years. A graduate of Washington College, where she majored in fine art, Jean started her work in design with the Literary House lecture program. The illustrations she contributes to the Spies are done with watercolor, colored pencil and ink.
