The original recipe is from The Doubleday Cookbook where it's called Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie. We make the pie in a quiche dish, ours is 10” dia ceramic and the sides are 1½” high.
The crust we've usually made is an oil-based crust with the recipe below. With the oil-based crust you don't need to butter or oil the dish, but with store-bought, follow the box instructions.
We've also used store-bought crusts at times (e.g., Trader Joes's or Pilsbury Pie Crusts, not the pie shells). If you decide to use commercial pie shells, they're likely to be 9" and so you'll need to adjust the quantities below. Note: a quick google of store-bought crusts rated Trader Joe's pretty highly (see epicurious.com).
And for those of you that are gluten intolerant we've made this recipe using the crust from the Tamal Pie recipe with great success. Just try to keep the crust thin (< ¼ in).
| Quantity | Item |
|---|---|
| ¼ C (4 Tbs) | butter or margarine |
| 6 Tbs | flour |
| 1 C | milk |
| 1 to 1½ C | chicken broth (original recipe calls for 2 cups but I thought it was too soupy and cut back.) |
| 3 C | cooked chicken or turkey, cut into bite-sized pieces. My notes say to use 4 half breasts. |
| ¼ tsp | rosemary (I like to crush it first in mortar and pestle) |
| ¼ tsp | savory |
| ¼ tsp | nutmeg (optional) |
| 1 Tbs | minced parsley (fresh or dried) |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| ¼ tsp | pepper |
| 1 - 1½ C | carrot, sliced and cooked |
| 1 C | green peas, frozen are fine |
| 1 or 2 | med. potatoes, cooked and cut into bite size pieces |
| sautéed mushrooms and/or bell pepper (optional) | |
| 2 | Pie crusts (a top and a bottom) |
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Make a roux - melt butter in a large saucepan (e.g., 4 qt.) over moderate heat, whisk/blend in flour. Add milk and broth, and heat, stirring continuously, until thickened. Add all the spices/seasonings, stirring to distribute, and then add the chicken. Cover and simmer 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; add vegetables.
Fit bottom crust into the quiche dish, letting the excess hang over the edge of the dish. Add filling (ok if it mounds somewhat). Fit the top crust over the dish (rolling it onto a rolling pin first and then unrolling it over the top is a good method), crimp/seal the edges, and puncture top crust to release steam. Bake on foil or a cookie sheet to catch drips. Bake 30-40 minutes until browned and bubbly.
Tip: I measure the amount of chicken and vegetables to use by placing them inside the quiche dish, before putting the bottom crust in it, and before adding them to the sauce. That way I come out with the correct amount of filling.
| Quantity | Item |
|---|---|
| 3 C | flour |
| 1 tsp | salt |
| ¾ C | vegetable oil (e.g., canola) |
| ⅜ C | milk |
Add the dry ingredients to a bowl and stir to mix. In a measuring cup, add the oil and then the milk and pour at once on the dry ingredients Stir with a fork until the mixture forms a ball. Divide the ball into portions for top and bottom crusts. Roll out each portion between sheets of waxed paper. If the paper slips while rolling, moisten the working surface underneath.