I did a couple of diaries last year where I talked about the foods of my youth: Great-Grandma’s persimmon cookies; how Mom made crème brulée every New Year’s Eve. I’m going to continue that today, and include a recipe for a dish that probably 90% or more of y’all already have. Plus it’s a good winter meal, which is good, because winter has come early to my part of the world. And like many winter meals, it makes leftovers, which is always a bonus. We usually treat this as a one-dish meal, although you are, of course, free to serve it with anything else you choose.
When I was 12 or 13, my mother decided to finish her college degree (which had been interrupted by pregnancy, resulting in yours truly) and enroll in a teacher certificate program. Two nights a week, she had class, and Dad was never home for dinner, so it fell to me to make dinner for me and my brother those nights. For two young boys, having tuna casserole and English muffin pizzas and such was the height of haute cuisine—and none of it was hard for me to make. But the best nights were when I stretched my teenage culinary skills to their utmost and made chicken pot pie.
This was, of course, something my mom had been making for years beforehand, and it was always a favorite of mine. She doesn’t remember where she got this recipe—she thinks it was likely her own mom. But really, it doesn’t matter where she got it; what matters is the tastiness of the dish itself, and the nostalgia it invokes in me. Every year, when the weather turns cold, I know that I will once more be making a dish that takes me back to the start of my cooking days, the start of learning to fend for myself, and the end of the Jimmy Carter presidency (yes, it has been that long).
For the crust, use whatever recipe you prefer. I used to use the Betty Crocker version, but I switched to using Chef John’s about a year ago (note: link is for double crust, not single).
CHICKEN POT PIE
2 chicken breasts
Frozen peas
Jack cheese
4 T butter
2 carrots, sliced
6-10 mushrooms, sliced
2 T flour
2 small zucchini, sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine (sweet wine, like Riesling, just doesn’t work for this)
1 t lemon juice
1 t Worcestershire sauce
2 egg yolks
1/2 c half-and-halfSingle pie crust
Boil the chicken breasts until completely cooked (can be done in advance). Melt 2 T butter in large frying pan. Saute the carrots and mushrooms until the carrots turn soft. Add remaining 2 T butter, zucchini and flour to make a roux. Add broth, wine, lemon juice. Stir and simmer for about 5 minutes. Beat the egg yolks and half-and-half together and add, along with Worcestershire. Stir and simmer until the sauce thickens, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, about 20-25 minutes. (This is usually the point where I roll out the dough) While sauce cooks, cover bottom of 9 by 13 baking dish with peas. Grate cheese over peas. Cut up chicken into small pieces and sprinkle over peas and cheese. Pour sauce into baking dish; spread to ensure even coverage. Cover with crust. Cut 4-5 slits in crust with sharp knife. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes.
By all means, feel free to share your pot pie variations, or your favorite winter meals, or any story that starts with “My buddy and I were in a bar one night….”
P.S. Don’t ask about the time I made tamale pie as a teen and used corn starch for the crust instead of corn meal. Came out like rubber cement on top. Thankfully, it was easy to scrape off….