Sunday, January 6, 2013

Chicken Pot Pie

While shopping at the grocery store recently, my son set his eyes on a box of chicken pot pie. It was lunch time and I always try to avoid shopping when one's hungry.
Every time I pick an item from the shelf that I have never purchased before, I always tend to read the label. I flabbergasted with the amount of sodium content. So I picked up a pack of puff pastry sheet and made it with a few modifications to the traditional pot pie.




Ingredients:

1 pack store bought puff pastry sheets (available at freezer section at most grocery stores)
1 boneless chicken breast, cut into 1"cubes
2 tbsp butter
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3 tbsp flour (heaped)
1- 15 oz can low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups water
1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1"cubes
3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 cup frozen green peas
3 white mushrooms, cut into chunks
1/2 cup half & half
salt to taste
pepper powder
a few sprigs fresh parsley

How it's made:

In a non stick pan, heat a tsp oil. Saute chicken cubes with a pinch of salt , pepper and set aside. In the same pan, heat butter. Once it melts, add onions. When translucent, add flour. The mixture will turn lumpy but continue frying on medium high heat for 3-4 mins. Lower heat and add liquid (stock and water) a little at a time. Keep stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Once all the liquid has been used, add carrots, potatoes, peas, mushrooms and chicken. Cook together for 5 mins on medium heat. Make sure that the sauce doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan. Add half & half, salt , pepper powder and parsley. Boil and pour sauce into 6 ramekin bowls.
Pre-heat oven to 350 deg F.
Roll out puff pastry sheet. Cut circles 1/2 " larger than the circumference of the ramekin bowls. Cover ramekin with pastry sheets. Press the edges with back of fork. Slit holes on the top of pastry sheet for steam to vent through while baking.
Bake at 350 deg F for 20-30 minutes or until the top crust is brown.



Serves: 6

Note: An extra can of chicken stock can be used instead of water. I like to use low sodium stock when I don't have home made stock, so that I can control the amount of sodium in the recipe. 
Most pot pie recipes includes an egg which is used to brush the top of puff pastry sheet before baking. It leaves a nice glaze on the crust. I like to skip the egg wash step.



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