Who doesn’t like chicken pot pies? I’m pretty sure that most all of us grew up eating these at least weekly. I know when I was in college, these and Ramen Noodles were my best, most frequent dinner. This recipe is as close as I can get to a homemade chicken pot pie filling for a quiche. I can’t say much more about this, so here is how to make it.
Ingredients:
- 2 deep dish pie pans (Marie Callender’s works best) or you can make your own
- 4 chicken breast halves or 2 cups leftover cooked chicken
- seasoned salt and pepper to taste
- 2 tablespoons cooking oil
- 1/3 cup butter
- 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 quart heavy cream
- 1/2 cup chicken base
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 1/2 small yellow onion, minced
- 1 cup frozen green peas
- 1 cup chopped cooked carrots (or you can use two cups of frozen pea and carrots)
- Pinch fresh, grated nutmeg, optional
- 2 cups Monterey jack cheese (substitutions allowed for your favorite cheese)
- 2 pie crusts pans
Filling:
Prepare your chicken by your preferred method. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken and sauté until cooked through. Remove from heat and cut into chunks. I like to use precooked mesquite chicken breasts.
In large saucepan, melt butter. Slowly add flour, stirring until consistency of peanut butter. While stirring, add cream, chicken base, garlic and onion and stir until thickened. Add peas, carrots, nutmeg, if using, and cut up chicken. Keep on heat and continue stirring for about 5 minutes or until thickened enough to stick to all the ingredients. Remove from heat and allow to cool before storing till final cooking.
Final Assembly and Cooking:
Preheat oven to 375. In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs and half and half and beat till fully mixed. Add pepper to taste. Warm prepared filling, if necessary and place equally into two pie crusts. Then pour egg mixture equally over filling and very lightly mix together. Top with 1 cup of cheese on each pie, add a little more seasoning of your choice, I usually sprinkle a little pepper on top. Place pies in middle of oven and bake for 40 minutes or until cheese is a golden brown. Remove from oven and pack it up for the rink.