World's Greatest Pot Pie - Literally

When deciding what to make for dinner, it's usually my choice. Sometimes I'll ask the boyfriend whether it sounds good or not, but even if he says no thanks, I'll usually end up making it anyways. This probably because I'm an only child and suck at compromising/sharing; it's all about me lololol. I'm working on it...kinda. So because of this, I decided to be nice and make something Mark wanted, even if it wasn't my favorite dish ever. His choice? Chicken pot pie. Definitely not my favorite meal, but I'd be willing to give it a go. I'm not sure why I'm not a fan. It has a lot of my favorite components. Maybe because that frozen crap hardly does it justice. Maybe because creamy dishes (with the exception of mac and cheese) are not my thing. Whatever the reason, my expectations were low.

Man was I wrong. This pot pie was delicious...my god. Way to prove me wrong. There are literally a million pot pie recipes that really all sound very similar. However I got this recipe from the "Throwdown" cookbook. Bobby Flay's recipe won the pot pie throwdown, but Sandy Pollock's and Crystal Cook's pot pie sounded much more appealing to us. Potatoes, carrots, peas, chicken, yum! I really don't have much more to say about it besides how uhhh-mazing this was. Nor do I really want to keep typing cause the Bears game is on. Below is the recipe. Make it. Now. Byez.

The Greatest Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 cups plus 1 tbsp whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed according to package instructions
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup diced red pepper
• 2 medium shallots, thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp dried tarragon (I used thyme cause I don't love tarragon)
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups shredded roasted chicken (from one 3 lb chicken)
• One 10 ounce package frozen baby peas, thawed
• 1 1/2 cups diced carrots, blanched and drained (how to blanch veggies: http://www.ehow.com/how_13887_blanch-vegetables.html
• 1 1/2 cups diced russet potato, blanched and drained (see link above)
• 1 large egg

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Combine the 2 cups of milk and heavy cream in a large bowl.
3. Roll the puff pastry slightly if necessary so that it measures 9 x 13 inches.
   
   
4. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bell peppers and shallots and cook, stirring frequently until the pepper is tender, about 5 minutes.
   
   Add flour, tarragon (or thyme), salt and pepper, and stir to coat the vegetables in the flour. Add the wine and let bubble for a bit. Raise the heat to medium-high, and stir in the milk mixture.
   
   Cook, stirring, until thickened and bubbly, about 7 minutes. Stir in the chicken, peas, carrots and potatoes and simmer, stirring until heated through, about 2 minutes.
   
   
5. Transfer mixture to 9 x 13 inch baking dish.
   
   Place puff pastry over the hot chicken mixture. Beat the egg with the remaining 1 tbsp milk, and brush over puff pastry. Then cut slits (about 3) in the pastry to allow steam to escape.
   
   Bake until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

P.S. Hope everyone had a great New Years! Mine was spent at the Metro seeing Yeasayer (who are up in my top 10 favorite bands). Best NYE yet. Massive hangover yesterday. Anyways, here's Yeasayer for you listening pleasure. Enjoy babies!