My Mother Edna loved baking cakes and cookies, but the never made pies. Although I never asked her, I suspect that the art of making pie crust was not her favorite thing to do. In my own attempts at making crust, I never knew all the little "secrets" so mine were not the best. Years ago, I started using "Pet/Ritz" frozen pie crusts, already in an aluminum pan. They made my annual Sweet Potatoe pies much easier to do.
As part of my "recovery" I realized that I needed to explore making foods that were not familiar so that I could expand my culinary reperatoire and add some adventure to my culinary experience.
I'm sure some of you will laugh, particularly if you've been making home made pies for decades. I discovered Pillsbury refrigerated pie crusts. So, with this new knowledge in hand, I've been exploring the ease of basic pie making.
Some generic tips:
0. No matter what the filling, it must be thickened with either flour, corn starch, tapioca, or some other "starch" that will thicken the juices. The only exception, "custard" pies where the eggs do the thickening.
0. Pie filling is a great way to use up left overs and other odds & ends in one's refrigerator.
This is actually the origins of Quiche, which is basically French peasant food. Thanks to John Beeman for telling me this decades ago in Tampa Florida, Quiche is how the French get rid of leftover cheese, vegetables that are not so fresh but still edible, eggs, milk and cream that are also no longer fresh, eggs ditto. Just mix it all up, (using eggs to thicken) throw it in a pie shell and it all cooks together and tastes great.
0. And there are two paradigms for pie making regarding ingredients. One can either cook them first and then "fill" the pie. Or one can leave most of the ingredients (except meats) uncooked, or barely cooked and let them cook in the pie. Quiche is one notable exception, as well as some "fresh fruit" pies that use a "glaze" to hold them together. (Of course, most "cream" refrigerated and "fresh fruit pies require the "shell" to be pre-cooked before filling)
0. And lastly, letting the pie cool is essential to not having a runny mess when you try to open it.
So this is what I did for my first home made Chicken Pot Pie.
I pre-cooked the filling on top of the stove. I added extra flour because I wanted a "stand up" pie, not a runny one. Specific directions (more or less) and "why" are below.
I put half a stick of butter in a deep skillet. Once melted and sizzling, I added about a cup of chopped onions, and teaspoon of chopped garlic.
I sautéed this till translucent, then added 2 cups of small cut up chicken (raw), and cooked this until the chicken was almost done.
Then I added 3 cups of thawed frozen vegetables (vegetable mix from a bag). You can certainly use fresh vegetables too if you prefer.
If you want a lot of "crunch" then don't pre-cook them. Same if you're using already cooked meat. You can just make the "gravy" with the spices and then dump in the meat/vegetables and pour it into the pie shell.
I stired this together, then added 1 tablespoon of dry chicken soup mix (I use Knorr). This substitutes for any salt and adds chicken flavor. Also, I ground some fresh black pepper, some basil and you can certainly add other seasonings to your taste. I add the seasonings BEFORE any liquid so that the flavors bond with the food, sort of like "stir fry."
I mixed 2 cups of milk with 3 tablespoons of flour and once dissolved poured this into the chicken vegetable mix. After it was mixed, I added a cup of plain greek yoghurt. I also added some white cooking wine.
Once this had cooked enough to thicken, I turned off the heat, and let it sit for a few minutes while I prepared a pan with the pie crusts. I have developed a fondness for using cake pans so I get the ultimate "deep dish" pie. I just spray the pan thoroughly with cooking spray so the pie will be easier to take out.
Once I filled and covered the pie, I put it in a 375 F oven (I have a convection oven, otherwise I would do 400 F) for about 45 minutes, or until it turns a golden brown.
Once cooled, I got the pie in the photo above and it was very yummy.
There are many videos on YouTube about making pie crust and Chicken Pot Pie and there are as many variations as their are cooks.
Enjoy !!!
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