Hearty And Delicious: Chicken Pot (Pudgy) Pie

Chicken pot pie and chicken noodle soup are two classics that just warm the tummy and the soul on a chilly fall day (or on a warm fall day).  There’s something so comforting about them.  Not to mention, when you have a busy week, it’s always a bonus to make one meal and get to eat the leftovers for a few days after.

Three years ago, neither Boy nor I had made a pot pie…but one fateful day, we decided to give it a whirl.  Instead of actually working from a recipe, we decided to just make it up.  We didn’t know there were supposed to be peas in it or what was actually traditional; so we started with some carrots, celery, a diced potato, store-bought rotisserie chicken, and homemade biscuit crust.  And it was delicious.  Since then, we’ve health-ified our recipe a bit by lowering the sodium and taking out the potato but the basic elements are still the same.

Last week, we were planning out our grocery shopping list and decided it was a good day to make a pot pie.  Of course, that also meant it was a good day to try a Toas-Tite (or pudgy pie) version too.  So let’s dive right in to the tasty meat of the recipe.

Boy and Girl’s Chicken Pot Pie And A Tasty Toas-Tite

(our healthy and hearty version – serves 8, plus a Toas-Tite)

Ingredients:

• 3 carrots, chopped
• 6 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 pounds of chicken, cooked and shredded (we like to season it with salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano and a touch of tried basil)
• 1 can of condensed cream of mushroom soup (our favorite is Campbell’s Healthy Request Cream of Mushroom since it’s lower in sodium than some of the others)
• 2 tsp of Herbox Sodium Free Chicken Bouillon
  
• 1 tsp of garlic powder
• Pepper

Crust:

• 1-1/2 cups of flour
• 2-1/4 tsp of baking powder
• 1/4 tsp of salt (plus a pinch more)
• 4-1/2 Tbsp of butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup of milk

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Now saute your carrots and celery.  Having them slightly cooked before they go into your pot pie will guarantee that they will be fully cooked by the time you dig in.  We’ve made the mistake in the past throwing them in raw and ending up with very crunchy veggies.
3. Pull your veggies from the pan when you can stick a fork in your carrots but they’re still firm.
4. Mix the carrots and celery in a large bowl with the shredded chicken.
5. In another bowl, mix the cream of mushroom with the garlic powder, chicken bouillon, and pepper.
6. Pour the sauce over the veggies and chicken and mix until all bits are evenly coated with sauce.  In another small bowl, set aside enough chicken and veg to fill a Toas-Tite.
7. Now it’s time for the dough!
8. To make the dough, mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl and add the milk.  Use a dough cutter to cut in the butter until fully combined.  You can also mix the dough in a food processor if you prefer.
9. Once mixed, roll the dough out.  If you find it’s sticking to your cutting board, you can add a bit of flour or roll our the dough between two sheets of parchment paper.  The dough should be a little less than 1/4-inch thick.  This should give you enough coverage for your pot pie as well as enough extra for a Toas-Tite.  To make sure, take a 9-inch pie pan (or thereabouts) and flip it upside down onto your dough and cut out a circle just a bit larger than the widest part of the tin.  Roll up the extra and set it off to the side for your Toas-Tite.
10. Okay, now let’s put the pot pie all together.  Pour your chicken and veg into your pie pan and cover with your crust, crimping the sides down into the pan.
11. Cut a few slits into the crust to allow the steam to escape as your pie bakes.
12. Now bake it up!  Bake time runs around 30 minutes.  That said, your veggies are mostly cooked and your chicken is already cooked so as long as your crust turns a nice golden brown, you’re all set.

Now…while your pot pie is baking…it’s time to get your Toas-Tite on.

1. Your filling is already done so start by getting your crust together.
2. Take the ball of crust you have set aside and divide it into two evenly sized pieces.
3. Roll out each ball so that it will completely cover the inside of the Toas-Tite grill.
4. Spray the inside of the Toas-Tite with non-stick spray and place one piece of crust down into the grill.
5. Pour the chicken and veggies you set aside from your pie filling on top of your crust.

6. Now take your other piece of crust and place it on top of the filling, pressing around the edges to make your seal.

7. Close the Toas-Tite grill (but double check you sprayed non-stick stuff on both sides first) and toast it up.
8. Over a low to medium-low flame (or burner), cook your Toas-Tite pot pie for 20 minutes total, 10 minutes on each side, or until golden brown.
9. If your Toas-Tite starts to drip out the sides, no worries.  The likely cause is that the inside is so hot and the steam has no where to go so the pie starts pushing out the sides.  If that happens, take your grill off the flame for a moment and carefully open it to release the steam.  If your crust still needs to cook a bit longer, you can continue toasting with the grill open.  When you need to flip, close it, flip, and open up the other side.  This will give the steam some additional freedom and let you toast until you’re happy.
10. Pull your Toas-Tite from the grill when it’s nice and toasty, let cool, and serve yourself a big helping of pot pie on the side.

Now we could decide which picture we liked best so you get two.  Mmm…golden brown crust…

Mmm…delicious pot pie filling…

Notes from the Kitchen

Because we wanted to avoid a leaking Toas-Tite while it was cooking, we used a low flame.  The low flame combined with the raw crust did mean that the cooking time was longer than your average Toas-Tite.  We got our full pot pie into the oven about 10 minutes before we got the Toas-Tite onto the burner and they were finished cooking at about the same time.  Needless to say…we were pretty hungry by the time they were both nice and toasty.

But let me tell you what.  The pot pie Toas-Tite did not disappoint.  In fact, it made both Boy and I exclaim through bites of pie, “Oh my gosh…wow…oh my gosh…it’s SO good!  What?!  Oh man…wow.  I want another” and other things of that nature.  This is definitely on our list of favorites and will be on the menu for the next family Toas-Tite party.