Sunday, January 28, 2018

Slow Cooker Chicken & Wild Mushroom Pot Pie

There is nothing more comforting than homemade chicken pot pie, and I love it, but I don't like to make it. Frankly, it's a bit of a pain. But when I have a hankering for chicken pot pie, unless I want to bake a frozen one (and in the interest of full disclosure, I have been known to do this), I far prefer homemade.

Recently I found a recipe for chicken pot pie made in a slow cooker (Read: the filling is made in the Slow Cooker). It was a recipe of P. Allen Smith's, and I gave it a try, adapting it as I went along. It's only slightly easier than the more labor intensive version, but I liked the fact that I could put it all together early in the day when I have the most energy, and let it simmer on its own, to be ready when I was exhausted and wanting to sit down to a good meal. He had a homemade crust on top of his, I didn't want to bother with that, so I used a biscuit topping to top mine, and I loved it!

Here is my adaptation of P. Allen's recipe:

Slow Cooker Chicken & Wild Mushroom Pot Pie

Sauce Ingredients

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

3 tablespoons flour

2/3 cup whole milk

1 cup chicken broth

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Filling Ingredients

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces

1 cup peeled and cubed Yukon Gold potatoes

1/2 cup frozen peas

1/2 cup frozen corn kernels

1/4 cup diced carrots

1/2 cup diced celery

1/4 cup diced yellow onion

1 ½-oz. pkg. Melissa’s dried porcini mushrooms

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon fresh rosemary

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons milk

Hydrate mushrooms according to package directions while you are preparing the rest of the ingredients; rough chop.

To make the sauce, melt butter in a 9"-10"skillet. Add flour and brown, whisking occasionally. Add milk, chicken broth, salt, and black pepper. Whisk to incorporate and pour into crock pot. Add chicken, potatoes, onion, carrots, mushrooms, spices, and milk. Stir; cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

Add the corn and peas to the chicken filling and transfer from the crock pot into an 8-inch round baking dish (I used four individual serving dishes). Top with the homemade biscuit of your choice, any piecrust you have on hand, or a square of puff pastry. Bake in a preheated 400° F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the filling bubbles and the crust is golden.