chicken pot pie

This dish is definitely my top 5 comfort food. I love pie crusts. There's something so satisfying about the flaky, buttery goodness. To make myself feel less guilty about eating it, I stuff them with veggies and milk-base white sauce. :) It's good to have comfort food once in a while - we all deserve it (once in a while. haha). 

Ingredients:

Pie crust - 2 (store bought or your own. See below for my pie crust recipe)

[Pie crust made from scratch - for 1 pie crust] you'll need DOUBLE for this recipe
Butter - 3/4 cup butter
Flour - 1 and 2/3 cups
Salt - 1/2 tsp
Ice cold water - 1/2 cup or more

Chicken - 2 breasts (cubed)
Carrots - 3 med (cubed)
Celery - 2 stalks (cubed)
Potatoes or yams or sweet potatoes - 2 small (cubed)
Green peas - 1/3 cup

[White sauce]
Butter - 2/3 cup 
Onion - 1 small (chopped finely)
Flour - 1/3 cup
Milk - 2 cups **see TIPS
Salt & Pepper (or garlic salt will work, too) - to taste  

Prep:

1. Chop onion very finely. You can also use blender. 
2. Cut chicken in cubes, add salt and pepper (1 tsp) and set it aside for 10 minutes.
3. Cut carrots, celery and potatoes in cubes (about 1/2 inch). If the green peas are frozen, thaw them in warm water. Set it aside. 
4. [Pie crust - store bought] Make sure you take out of fridge or freezer according to the instruction on the box.
5. [Pie crust - your own] With a fork, combine butter, flour and salt until crumbly. Add in cold water, 1 TBS at a time until it forms a dough. On a floured surface, roll out with rolling pin, then either fold the pastry in half or roll them up. Keep in the fridge for about an hour (overnight is good). Take the dough out from the fridge until easy to work with. **see TIPS

Cook:

1. [White sauce] In a pot, melt butter. Add in minced/blended onion. Fry until fragrant, stirring continuously for about 3-5 minutes. Add flour all at once. Let it integrate with onion and butter. (make sure you are stirring or it'll get burnt!). Add in milk, a little at a time. Keep mixing. continue adding milk until it reach the texture you like. Remember, it takes some time to get the mixture thicken, so keep stirring and add small amount of milk at a time. 
2. Preheat oven to 400 F. 
3. In a wok, add 1 TBS of oil. Fry chicken cubes until half-way cooked. Add in carrots, celery and potatoes. Fry for 3-5 minutes. Add in green peas and fry for another 1 minute. 
4. Add in white sauce into the wok with chicken. Mix well. 
5. On a 7 by 11 or deep pie or baking pan, line the first pie crust. It should go over to the side of the pan (to form a deep dish pie crust). 
6. Pour chicken-white sauce mixture in. Cover with another pie crust. Seal up the edge by pinching together. 
7. Make few slits at the top for steam to come out. 
8. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown on top.

1. Fry onion and butter

2. Add flour

3. Mix well - don't let it burn!

4. Add milk a little at a time

Used yam this time, thinking it was sweet potatoes. But it turned out great!

Add in white sauce

Make sure you follow the instruction on the pie crust box, or else you'll end up like the one above (it was still frozen in the middle part. haha)

Bake until golden brown on the edges

Serve:

1. Take out of the oven and let it sit for at least 10-15 minutes before serving. 
2. Serve with salad (but who needs salad when you get all the comfort food in one dish!) 

TIPS

• You can substitute one cup of milk with one cup of chicken stock for less creamy white sauce.
• No time to wait for the pie crust? Just use it straight away (for made from scratch pie crust). It still tastes good. :) 
• Got extra pie crust dough? Use cookie cutter to cut out cute shapes and put them on top!