A family specialty is chicken pot pie. My Grandma Frankeny used to make it when she and my grandpap ran their tavern in Pennsylvania. My mom used to make it in bulk sometimes and she'd bring my sister and my brother and me a pie for each of our families. I've always used Grandma's recipe.
Until this week.
This week I tried Chicken Pot Slab Pie from Pie Squared: Irresistibly Easy Sweet & Savory Slab Pies by Cathy Barrow.
Barrow demo-ed slab pies for us at the Texas Book Festival in 2019. I shared my experience making Ham and Gruyere Slab Pie with an All-Butter Crust in a blog post here.
Chicken Pot Slab Pie also uses an all-butter crust.
CHICKEN POT SLAB PIE
ALL-BUTTER CRUST
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
16 tablespoons butter, cubed and frozen for 20 minutes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup ice water
FILLING
1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium leaks, sliced into 1/2" disks
2 medium carrots, sliced and cut into 1/2" half moons
3 stalks celery, sliced 1/2" thick
1 heaping teaspoon fresh thyme
1 teaspoon herbes de Provence
1/4 cup white wine or water
4 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
12 ounces cooked chicken, cubed (about 2 cups)
6 ounces frozen petite peas
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
For the crust: In the food processor, pulse the flour, butter, and salt until the fats are in small pieces coated with flour, about 15 times. Add the water all at once and process until the mixture almost forms a ball. Form the dough into a 6-by-4-inch rectangle using plastic wrap and a bench scraper to firmly press the dough into a cohesive form. Wrap tightly and refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to warm slightly. Divide the dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Roll out the larger piece to 11-by-15-inches and place in the 9-by-13 baking sheet (no more than 1 inch deep), pressing it into the corners of the pan and allowing the excess to drape over the sides. Refrigerate. Roll out the second piece of dough to 10-by-14-inches, place it on a lightly floured sheet of parchment, and refrigerate.
For the filling: Heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks and cook until transparent, about 8 minutes. Add the carrots, celery, thyme, and herbes de Provence. Stir well to coat in oil and cook until the vegetables are slightly tender, 4 or 5 minutes. Splash in the wine and cook until the pan is nearly dry, about 3 minutes.
Turn the heat to medium-high, add the butter, and cook until it is foaming. Sprinkle the flour over the buttery vegetables and cook, stirring, until the flour smell goes away and the roux (the paste created with butter and flour) has turned slightly golden, about 4 minutes. Pour in the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and let the stew bubble away until thickened, 5 or 6 minutes. Stir in the chicken, peas, salt, and pepper. Cool the filling for at least 30 minutes before filling the pie.
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. Place a baking stone on the center rack while the oven heats. Bring the bottom crust out of the refrigerator, scrape in the filling, and spread it from edge to edge and into the corners. Place the top crust over the filling. Crimp and slash the top.
Bake the pie on top of stone for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F and bake until the top is toasty brown and the filling is bubbling up out of the slashes, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.
Do you have a good recipe for chicken pot pie? Is this something you make?
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