I asked Jaron this afternoon what he would like to dinner and he said “Shepards Pie”… but since we had a pie curst in the freezer and a could of baked chicken breasts ready to be used in a recipe I assumed he meant Chicken Pot Pie. Turns out he didn’t lol but we went ahead with the Chicken Pot Pie with the promise of Shepards Pie for tomorrows dinner.
I usually make the full pie crust recipe even if I know I will only need a crust bottom and not the top for what I’m making just so that I can freeze the other half and have a ready to go crust on hand. Frozen pie dough is magical – the dough freezes really well if you wrap it in some seranwrap/put it in a plastic bag and then you have a homemade crust ready to be made without all the hassle of brining out the food processor. I highly recommend freezing the half of the pie curst you don’t use for later use. It will make your life easier!!
The below pie curst recipe is my great-grandmas (we called her Dabaw). She didn’t measure anything when she made this and didn’t use a recipe. Buttt, this is the best pie curst recipe ever and we all love it and thankfully my mom went over and measured everything out an wrote down the recipe so that the deliciousness was preserved.
I mixed up the recipe I was working off of (you can find the original here) by using heavy whipping cream instead of milk, GF flour (I prefer Mama’s almond blend) instead of gluten full flour, and putting everything into mini personal pies rather then one huge one. It turned out really yummy and was just perfect for a rainy day.
Pie Crust:
- 2 3/4 Cup Flour
- 2 Sticks Cold butter
- 1 tsp. Salt
- 1/2 Cup Ice water
- Extra Flour for rolling out
Combine butter, salt, and flour in a food processor and mix until the mixture becomes granular/is course meal. Add the ice water and pulse until dough begins to clump together into a ball. Refrigerate for 1 hour if desired (makes it easier to handle).
Filling Ingredients:
- 2 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
- 3 sliced carrots
- 1 package frozen green pees
- 5 sliced celery
- 1/3 cup butter
- 1 chopped onion
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour (the Gluten Free alt I used is linked here)
- Dash salt
- Dash pepper
- 1 3/4 cup chicken broth
- 2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
Directions:
- Preheat over to 425 degrees F (22 degrees C)
- Make pie curst dough
- In a saucepan combine chicken, carrots, celery, and peas. Add enough water to cover and boil for 15 min or until the carrots are easy to cut through. Drain and remove from heat. Set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium heat cook onions until translucent/clear. Sift in flour, salt, and pepper. Mix. Slowly stir in chicken broth and cream. Continue to stir and allow to simmer until the mixture has thickened. Once think remove from heat and set aside.
- Roll out pie dough and line the bottom of a pie pan (or an oven safe baking dish). Place the chicken and veggies mixture in the bottom of the crust. Pour the hot liquid mixture over it and spread out so that it is evenly disbursed. Cover with the top curst, seal the edges, cut away any extra dough. Make 3 small slits in the top of the curst to allow heat to escape (feel free to be creative with removing hearts, making a pattern, or doing a simple 3 slits).
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 min or until the curst is golden brown and filing is bubbling. Cool for 10 min before serving.
Charming Chatwins 