Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie is a classic comfort food.  It is a great use of left-over broasted chicken, and the vegetables used in this dish are staples in your pantry.  The prep time is minimal, and the aroma of chicken and baked bread fills your house while the biscuit topping browns.  My chicken casserole dish was given to me by my niece to add to my chicken collection.  I used the recipe on the bottom of the dish with a couple of additions and used refrigerator biscuits to save time.  This dish will warm you up on a cold winter's day.

Refrigerator Biscuit Chicken Pot Pie!

This is the basic recipe I used with the addition of potatoes and carrots and refrigerator biscuits instead of pie crust.

This recipe would fit into a 9x9 square baking dish, if you don't have a cool chicken casserole pan.

Origin of Pot Pies

• Ancient Greeks cooked meats and poultry in open pastry shells called artocreas, but the Romans added the top crust creating the first real pot pies.

Name

• Pot pies gained their name from the English tradition of forming a freestanding pie, called a coffin, by molding the pastry dough around the bottom of a pan or pot. Once removed from the pot, a variety of meats, poultry, game and vegetables were added and topped with a pastry cover. The English also made small meat filled pastries called "pasties." These pies, formed from a round circle of dough topped with meats and spices, were folded and sealed into a pocket that served as portable lunches. Initials or names carved in the top crust served both a vents for escaping steam, and to identify the owner of the pot pie.

Colonists

• Colonists relied on pastry shells to seal and cook chicken and vegetables, primarily due to the economic factor. A chicken potpie stretched the available chicken by adding plenty of vegetables and sealing it in a pastry shell. Pastry dough was more economical to make than other forms of breads, as it required only flour, water and fat.

New England

• Chicken pot pie became a staple in the diet of New England families as it enabled women to feed their family a nutritious meal on limited resources. Some replaced the pastry shell with a covering of piping hot biscuits. Today chicken pot pie is made either with biscuits or with pastry shells, depending on the preferences of the family.
• Read more: About Chicken Pot Pie | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/about_4710282_chicken-pot-pie.html#ixzz2IFZtgYKa

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/2 cup celery (about 2 medium stalks)
• 1 small onion
• 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning
• 1 to 1-1/2 cup cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 Tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 3 to 6 oz. sliced mushrooms
• 1/2 cup milk or cream
• 2 potatoes (cubed and cooked)
• 10 baby carrots (sliced and cooked)
• 1 pkg. Grands Homestyle Biscuits or any refrigerator biscuits

Printable version of recipe:  Chicken Pot Pie PDF: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6nRIiDbLtgGVFZRSHYzX1dvTWc/edit

Gather the ingredients.

Dice 2 stalks celery, to make 1/2 cup.

Dice 1 small onion.

Slice button mushrooms 3 to 6 oz. according to taste or what you have on hand.

Skin and debone cooked chicken.

Melt 2 Tbsp. butter in sauce pan.  Add onions, mushrooms, and celery.

Cook until vegetables are tender.

Chop chicken into uniform pieces.

Add 1/2 Tsp. poultry seasoning.

Measure and add 1 Tbsp. flour.

Add liquid, 1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup chicken broth.
Stir until thickened.

Add cooked chicken.

Add frozen peas.

Stir all together.

I added carrots and potatoes.
Cube them and cook until tender before adding to the sauce pan.

Prepare casserole dish.  Spray with non-stick vegetable cooking spray.
Then, pour filling into dish. 

Top filling with refrigerator biscuits.
I split the biscuits in half horizontally, and placed on top of the filling.

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven and bake biscuits according to directions on package.
I baked these at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes until biscuits are browned.

Enjoy!