For dinner tonight: Chicken Pot Pie!

Ok, technically I made this for dinner last night, but you get the idea.  This is one of my favorite dinners to make.  It is quintessential comfort food, both to eat and to cook.  The recipe is relatively simple to follow, but there are a lot of steps, and it dirties pretty much every dish in the kitchen, so it feels like you're doing some real, fancy cooking :-) Following is the recipe and a few (way too many) pictures:

Chicken Pot Pie
(adapted from Pam Anderson's cookbook The Perfect Recipe)

1 recipe Pot Pie Dough (follows)
1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 cans chicken broth
1 1/2 tbs oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cups chopped carrots
2 cups chopped celery
salt and pepper
8 tbs butter (1 stick)
1 cup flour
3 cups whole milk
1 tsp thyme
6 tbs dry sherry
3/4 cup frozen peas
3 tbs parsley

Pot Pie Dough

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), chilled and cut into 1/4" slices
1/4 cup vegetable shortening, chilled
ice water

Directions:

Step 1: Prepare and refrigerate the pie dough until ready to use

Mix the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.  Scatter the butter pieces over the flour, tossing slightly to coat.  Cut butter into flour with five 1-second pulses.  Add the shortening and continue cutting until the flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal, about four more 1-second pulses. 
Turn the mixture into a medium bowl.  Sprinkle mixture with 3 tablespoons of ice water and fold water into the mixture with a rubber spatula.  Press down on the dough with the broad side of the spatula.  Add up to 2 tablespoons more water if the dough will not come together.  Gather the dough into your hands and flatten into a 4-inch disk.  Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or until ready to use.

Step 2: Cook the chicken.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Put the chicken and the broth into a soup kettle or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. 

Cover and bring to a simmer; simmer until meat is just done, 8-10 minutes.  Transfer chicken to a large bowl, and transfer the broth to another bowl.

Step 3:  Cook the veggies.

Return the pot to the stove, increasing heat to medium-high.  Heat up the oil.  Add the onion, carrots, and celery; saute until just tender, about 10 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Step 4:  Shred the chicken.

While your vegetables are cooking, use 2 forks to shred the chicken into bite-size pieces. 

If you have a significant other hanging around, this is a good task to delegate to them...

Step 5:  Reward your loyal apprentice with a piece of chicken.  Then wash the slobber off your hands.

Step 6: Make the gravy.

Transfer your cooked vegetables to the large bowl with the shredded chicken.  Set aside.
Return the pot to the stove; reduce heat to medium.  Add the butter to the empty pot.

When the foaming subsides, whisk in the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly so as not to burn the flour. (You're making a roux)

Whisk in the reserved chicken broth, milk, any accumulated chicken juices, and thyme.  Bring to a simmer, stirring until the sauce fully thickens.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Stir in sherry.

Step 7:  Put everything together.

Pour the sauce over the chicken/vegetable mixture.

Stir to combine.

Step 8: Notice that you do not have frozen peas when you had previously assumed you did.  Call your husband, who is on his way home from work, and hope that he is still at the store picking up the other various items you asked him to get on his way home.  Cover the pot pie filling with aluminum foil and wait until your husband comes home with those pesky peas.

Step 9:  Roll out the dough.

Unwrap your disk of pie dough, and roll it out to the approximate size of your casserole pan in between 2 sheets of parchment paper.

Since you are still waiting for your husband to arrive home, put the rolled-out dough (still between the sheets of paper) onto a cookie sheet and stash it in the fridge.

Step 10:  Bide your time by washing the large pile of dishes you have accumulated.

Step 11:  Stir the peas and the parsley into the pot pie filling.

Turn mixture into your casserole pan of choice.  I use my huge LeCreuset pan, but you can certainly use 2 smaller pans or several individually-sized pans.  Whatever you have on hand.

Step 12:  Finishing touches.

Take your rolled-out pie dough out of the fridge.  Peel one piece of parchment paper off, exposing the dough.  Turn the exposed side on to the top of the pie filling, and quickly but carefully peel off the other side of the parchment paper.  (This step is definitely easier if you have refrigerated the rolled-out dough for a few minutes before using it.  Otherwise, the heat of the filling starts to soften the dough, and it likes to stick to the 2nd piece of parchment, making it very frustrating to remove.)  Cut a few vent slices into the top of the dough.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly.  Let stand for about 10 minutes out of the oven, so it can firm up.

Step 13: Nom.

Like I said, I always have fun making chicken pot pie.  I don't think any of these pictures were particularly helpful or necessary to the making of the pie, but I had fun taking them...it made me feel like a celebrity chef with my own cooking show.