Chicken Pot Pie

Back to Mains

Serves 6-8
A favorite winter weekend dish

2 whole chickens, remove livers

For stock
1 onion, rough cut
3 carrots, rough cut
3 celery, rough cut
3 sprigs of thyme
4 parsley stems
2 bay leaves

For gravy
8T butter
8T flour

For pot pie
3 carrots, cut bite-sized
1 celery, diced
20 pearl onions
Leaves from 3 sprigs of fresh thyme (optional)

Ingredients for Rosemary Biscuits

1. Place chickens and stock ingredients in a large stock pot and add water to cover. Bring to boil and then leave to simmer for 1 hour. Skim periodically to remove scum.
2. While chicken is cooking, remove outer skin from pearl onions (this is most easily done by scoring the onions with an “X” and then placing them in boiling water for 60 seconds).
3. Saute carrots, celery and pearl onions for a few minutes until they begin to soften. Set aside.
4. After an hour, take chicken out of stock pot (reserving stock). Remove chicken skin and shred chicken. (Depending on the timing, you can return the chicken carcass to the stock and allow it to continue cooking.) Place shredded chicken in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, so it does not dry out.
5. Strain stock to remove vegetables and leave on stove over a low flame to keep warm.
6. To make the gravy, make a roux with the flour and butter in a small stock pot. (Melt butter until foaming over medium-low heat. Add flour and stir with a whisk until mixture begins to take on some color. ) Continue stirring until the mixture is slightly browned. It is really important that the mixture is not burned. If this happens, throw it out and start again.
7. While whisking, begin adding hot stock to the flour mixture one cup at a time. The mixture will start bubbling vigorously and will continue to thicken each time stock is added. Keep whisking and ensure lumps are mixed in. Add stock until it reaches the desired thickness. I normally add stock until the gravy is the consistency of thick cream (or drinkable yogurt).
8. Add gravy to bowl with chicken and sauteed vegetables and mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.
9. Preheat oven to 425.
10. Make rosemary biscuits.
11. Pour mixture into baking dish (approx 13 x 9)
12. Spoon tablespoon-sized dollops of biscuit dough on top of mixture, evenly spread across the top.
13. Bake until biscuits are lightly browned, approximately 15 minutes.