Category Archives: Leftovers

We all love the classic comfort food dishes but sometimes we just don’t have the time to put in to make them during the week. Who wouldn’t love a nice pot roast dinner on a weeknight? Unfortunately, few of us have the time to pull that off unless you want to give it a try in the slow cooker. I did come across a great comfort food recipe from Williams-Sonoma the other day that you can make even easier by making use of some leftovers or store-bought items. This recipe for chicken pot pie has you making your own crust. If you don’t have time to do it, you can always use a store-bought crust to do that and save yourself even more time.

Chicken Pot Pie

For the Pie Dough:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Salt

6 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening

2 tablespoons cold butter

About 1/3 cup cold water

For the Filling:

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 cup sliced carrots

1 cup fresh or frozen peas

1 cup corn kernels (from 2-3 ears)

2 tablespoons butter

4 skinless, boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized chunks

2 tablespoons chopped shallot

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups chicken broth

1/2 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup half-and-half

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 teaspoon water

To make the dough, stir together the flour and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Using a pastry blender, cut in the shortening and butter until a coarse meal starts to form. Toss with a fork while adding enough water for the dough to clump together. Form the dough into a disk, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Add the carrots and peas and cook until tender-crisp, about 3 to 5 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the vegetables to a colander and drain, then transfer them to a bowl. Repeat the process with the corn, cooking it for 1 minute.

In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until it is browned on all sides, about 8 minutes. Add the shallot and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour and stir well. Stir in the broth, wine, half-and-half and parsley and bring the mixture to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 10 minutes. Stir in the carrots, peas and corn. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer the mixture to a 9-inch pie plate.

On a floured work surface, roll out the dough into a round about 1/8 inch thick and large enough to fit over the pie plate. Brush some of the egg yolk mixture in a 1-inch border around the edge of the round. Place the round, egg side down, over the filling, and press the dough to the rim of the dish. Crimp or trim any overhanging dough and brush the surface lightly with the remaining egg yolk mixture. Cut a few slits in the center of the top of the pie to vent the steam.

Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.

Just a few notes about this recipe. You can always use store-bough pie dough for this to save you time. I keep a package of pie dough on hand regularly in case I want to make a quick pie or something like this. You can also use frozen or leftover vegetables in this dish and vary things up, using whatever vegetables you have on hand. I put some green beans in with mine. As for the chicken, if you have leftover cooked chicken already you can save yourself another step and just heat it through in the skillet before adding the flour. You can use a rotisserie chicken instead if you have one of those as well. The meat from the chicken thighs is great for this because it is flavorful and tender, but use what you have to make things easier for you. Sean really liked this recipe and had 3 plates of it for dinner that night. The gravy created for the chicken and vegetables has really good flavor to it. By the way, I omitted the wine (I usually do in recipes) and used extra chicken broth instead and it turned out just fine.The leftovers were great for lunches too.

That’s it for today. Check back next time for some more recipes. I still have a roast beef recipe to try, Another Oktoberfest recipe using sausages, and I picked up a turkey breast the other day so I need to do something with that as well. Check back and see what comes along. Until next time, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!