Chicken Pot Pie, or, Recreating the Magic

I have a system for my recipes.  First, I identify recipes of interest, either online, in the NY Times Magazine, in one of the cooking magazines I subscribe to (now that Gourmet is defunct I guess it is really magazine. . .singular [Bon Appetit]), or from friends and family.  Recipes of interest get filed into an ever-expanding folder, roughly divided into categories; 'Appetizers', 'Vegetables', 'Main Dishes'...  Of course I can never remember whether I put that amazing looking butternut squash recipe under 'Vegetables' or 'Main Dishes' but at least I try to have a system.  Once I've cooked a recipe I either elevate it to a new status, the binder, if I've liked it, or I throw it out [by throw it out, I mean, recycle the paper], if I haven't.  This way I have a constant source of new recipes, as well as a special place for recipes I want to keep as a permanent part of my repertoire.

(Sidenote:  When I moved this summer I thought I lost my recipe folder.  Panic set in.  What was I going to do without all of those clipped pages of recipes to try?  Was I going to have to start over from scratch?  Thankfully, my mom came to visit and suggested I look in the box at the bottom of the stack of boxes that I was sure only contained my china.  Guess what?  My recipes were there.  Close call].

Last year I made a chicken pot pie that was so amazing it easily survived the transition from folder to binder.  In fact, it was so good that Mw and I both have had recurrent dreams about this chicken pot pie.  A perfect comfort food for this nasty ATL weather, I decided to make it again this evening.  Upon retrieving the recipe from the binder, however, I discovered that I'd crossed off about half of the list of ingredients, written in a few of my own, and frankly, I couldn't remember if I'd stuck to the rest of the recipe or just used it as general guidance.  Had I really used 12 tablespoons of butter last time?  And five cups of chicken stock?  Really, 12 tablespoons of butter?  So I set about to recreate the pot pie magic, while backing off a bit from the butter and adjusting a few other things as I saw fit.

The resultant pot pie was delicious, in fact, really delicious, although Mw declared that while to anyone else it would have been a 'masterpiece', to him it was merely 'good'.  But that's only because he'd had the first one, and we never can quite equal the fantasy in our mind, can we?  At least this time I wrote everything down, so you, too, dear reader can try this at home [to my sister:  I am sure you hate the fact that I use prepared puff pastry dough, but some things just take too long on a weeknight].

Chicken Pot Pie
Started with this recipe, but ended up quite a bit different

Active time:  45 minutes

Total time:  1.5 hours

Serves 6

2 whole split chicken breasts, bone-in, skin-on

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 cups chicken stock, heated to a simmer

5 tablespoons butter

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 carrot (or around 8 baby carrots), chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1 package mushrooms, sliced

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup minced parsley

1 prepared puff pastry dough, thawed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place chicken breasts on a baking sheet.  Rub with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Roast chicken for 45 minutes, or until cooked through.  Cool, then cut meat from the bones and dice [you could also do this part ahead of time and have the chicken ready to go].

While chicken is roasting, melt butter in a stockpan over medium heat.  Add onions and cook until translucent, about 15 minutes.  Add celery and carrots and cook until beginning to soften, about 7 minutes.   Add mushrooms and cook an additional 5 minutes.   Add flour and cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.  Add stock and cook for another 2 minutes, or more, until mixture begins to thicken.  Add cream, salt, pepper and mix.    Add cubed chicken and parsley.

Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees.  Pour chicken mixture into an ovenproof baking dish.  Top with puff pastry dough, crimping the edges as desired, and making a few small slits in the top to let steam escape.  Place on a baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, or until top is browned and filling is bubbling. Let rest for ten minutes, then serve.