Make Creamy Chicken Pot Pie - Recipe and Cooking Tips

Chicken Pies are feel-good food. This Chicken Pot Pie Recipe is just the thing for rich and flavourful dinner idea. the perfect home-cooked meal for your family. The wine adds an amazing flavor to the pie filling. Using ready-made puff pastry will help you save time.

You can make the whole thing ahead of time and bake it just before serving. A really great idea and time saver, is to make a double portion of the pie filling and then freeze it for when you need a meal in a hurry. You can try tasty variations once you've mastered the basics. Not exactly low-fat diet friendly but perfect served with buttery mash and baby peas.

Some Chicken Pie Baking Tips

• You can make the chicken pie ahead of time and bake it just before serving.
  


• Make a double portion of the pie filling and then freeze it for when you need a meal in a hurry.
  


• Always have a ready-made roll of puff pastry in the freezer for when you feel like pie.
  


• be sure to make a few small slits in the top of the pastry so that the steam can escape during the baking time.
  


• Use left-over chicken or ready-cooked chicken if you want to save time.
  


• Use vegetables in season as these will be cheaper and readily available.
  


• Adjust the seasoning in the filling to suit your own taste.
  


• Wine adds amazing depth to the flavor of the filling so if possible don't leave it out.
  

Chicken Pot Pie Recipe Ingredients

• olive oil and butter, for frying
  


• salt and milled pepper
  


• 500g deboned chicken thighs, diced
  


• 2 leeks, sliced
  


• 2 celery sticks, sliced
  


• 1 packet (250g) white or brown mushrooms, sliced
  


• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  


• 2 Tbsp (30ml) thyme leaves
  


• 1/2 cup (125ml) white wine
  


• 1 cup (250ml) chicken stock
  


• 1 tub (250ml) cream
  


• 1 small packet (80g) baby spinach, blanched and chopped or frozen vegetable mix
  


• 1 cup (250ml) fresh or frozen peas
  


• 1 roll puff pastry, defrosted, divided into 4
  


• 1 extra-large egg yolk, beaten
  

Cooking Instructions For Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pies

1. Preheat oven to 220 C.
   
   


2. Heat the oil and butter in pan and lightly saute the seasoned chicken until browned. Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and set aside.
   
   


3. Fry the leeks, celery and mushrooms until soft but be careful not to brown too much. Add the chopped garlic and fry for another minute.
   
   


4. Toss in the thyme leaves, wine, chicken stock, cream and browned chicken. Let this simmer for 25 minutes - the liquid should reduced by about half. Stir through wilted spinach and peas.
   
   


5. Spoon filling into 4 ramekins /small pie dishes and cover each with pastry. Crimp edges with a fork and make a few slits in the pastry to allow steam to escape from the chicken pies while they are baking.
   
   


6. Brush the tops of the pies with egg yolk and bake for 20 minutes or until the pastry has gone that delicious golden colour.
   

This Chicken Pot Pie serves 4 people.

Crock Pot Recipe for Creamy Seafood Chowder

I see myself as a fairly good cook. I can make something without a recipe, create my own recipes, and alter any recipes I have to fit my family's tastes. However, for some reason I never ventured to create a "clam chowder" type recipe. This is truly strange considering every time I go to a restaurant and they offer clam chowder, I order it. I love clam or creamy seafood chowder, and often when I love a recipe I am anxious to try it. But again, for some reason I would shy away from trying this. Perhaps part of the fear came from creating the cream base or cooking with clams. I'm not really sure, but I finally overcame the fear by cheating.

I know that we always teach our children not to cheat, but I have to admit that cheating in cooking is sometimes a wonderful thing. By cheating with this recipe, I've created the seafood chowder I love without a lot of preparation and hassle (and added a few extra twists). Enjoy!

2 cans cream of chicken soup

2 cans cream of potato soup

1 tsp garlic powder

2 tbsp minced onion

1 cup half and half

1 cup milk

¼ tsp black pepper

1 cup celery

2 10 ounce cans of clam, undrained

1 tsp creole seasoning

4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 16 oz package frozen corn

1 pound pre-cooked tail off shrimp

Spray crock pot with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients except shrimp, mix well. Cover and cook on low 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Add shrimp, cover and cook on high an additional 30-45 minutes until shrimp is tender.