Toby's Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

Directions:

1. MEAN CHEF's pie crust recipe is one of the best I've ever run across, or use your favorite.
2. Alternately, instead of making roux, thoroughly mix flour with 1 cup of the chicken broth.
3. Prepare crust, dividing into top and bottom crust portions for 2 9 pies or 4 6-7 inch pies, wrap in plastic wrap, place in a plastic bag, and refrigerate until needed, but at least 1 hour.
4. Season chicken generously on both sides with seasoned salt, granulated garlic, salt, and pepper, and rub with olive oil.
5. Wrap tightly in aluminum foil, place in a baking dish, and bake in a 375 degree F oven for 30 minutes.
6. Remove from oven, and allow to cool to room temperature without unwrapping (See Note).
7. Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat, add carrots and broccoli stalks, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly, add onion, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
8. Add minced garlic, celery, asparagus, and bell pepper, season generously to taste with salt and pepper, and cook for about another 5 minutes, or until just crisp-tender.
9. Remove from heat, and set aside.
10. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat, add flour, and cook for 6-8 minutes, stirring almost constantly, until nutty smelling and just lightly blonde in color.
11. Alternately, whisk flour into about 1 cup of chicken broth, strain into the saucepan to remove any lumps.
12. Whisk in chicken broth slowly, but vigorously, until mixture is smooth, add dried thyme and basil, seasoned salt, and granulated garlic to taste, and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking regularly.
13. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
14. Mixture should be quite thick.
15. Add cooked vegetables, and set aside.
16. Dice cooled chicken, and add chicken and any accumulated juices to the gravy/vegetable mixture.
17. Adjust seasonings to taste, and if vegetable and chicken juices have thinned the gravy too much, add dehydrated potato flakes, as needed, to thicken the mixture.
18. Refrigerate until chilled if not planning to bake pies immediately after preparing; otherwise, allow to cool to room temperature.
19. Spray pie pans with nonstick spray.
20. Roll out bottom pie crusts, and line pie pans with crust.
21. Roll out top crusts, and set aside.
22. Fill pies with chicken mixture, brush the dough edges lightly with water, and top with top crusts.
23. Press down to seal, crimp decoratively if desired, and cut several small steam-holes in the top crust.
24. To bake, preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
25. Place pie (s) on a baking sheet in case of leakage, and bake for 30 minutes.
26. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F, and continue to bake for another 30 minutes.
27. Check, and if crust is not nicely browned, bake for another 15 minutes or until it is.
28. If browning too fast, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and bake until heated through.
29. Remove from oven, and allow to set for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
30. Note: I usually prepare four 6-7 pies.
31. I line each of the pie pans with a 12 x24 piece of aluminum foil, placing the pie pan about 1-1/2 from one end, and gently pressing the foil down into the pan bottom using another pan.
32. Spray the foil with nonstick spray, and prepare as directed above, except for brushing and sprinkling.
33. Fold foil over pies, and crimp edges of foil to seal.
34. At this point, you can either place the pies, in their pie pans, plastic bags and freeze them, or you can freeze them until solid, remove from the pie pans, bag, and return to the freezer.
35. When ready to bake, remove foil, return pie (s) in pie pans in which they were originally formed, coating first with nonstick spray, if desired.
36. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
37. Place still frozen pie (s) on a baking sheet in case of leakage, and bake for 30 minutes.
38. Reduce heat to 375 degrees F, and continue to bake for another 60 minutes.
39. Check after 45 minutes, and if crust is browning too fast, cover loosely with aluminum foil, and bake until heated through.
40. Remove from oven, and allow to set for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.
41. One 7 pie, served with a crusty piece of sourdough French bread and a nice salad, makes a nice dinner for 2.
42. Note: I fix big batches of chicken breasts this way when they are on sale, bone them out, and freeze the cooked meat in about 1 pound packages for quick dishes or convenience when fixing dishes like this.