Chicken Pot Pie

On a whim, I made chicken pot pie for lunch today. Not exactly a whim of my own, mind you, since I really don't eat chicken much anymore. My husband happened to mention the recipe, as in "Remember when we went to Savannah, and I had that chicken pot pie at The Lady & Sons restaurant? And didn't we buy a copy of Paula Deen's cookbook? And isn't the recipe for her chicken pot pie in that cookbook?"

I got the cookbook down from its perch.... and of course the recipe was in there. Now, did I have all of the ingredients? Or at least nearly all of the ingredients, because I didn't want to go to Kroger for just one or two things.

Paula's recipe called for a can of condensed Cream of Celery soup, and a can of Cheddar Cheese soup. Well, I had a can of Cream of Mushroom, and I had cheddar cheese in the fridge. (Close enough, in my book.) I had an onion, frozen peas, fresh carrots. I had everything I needed to make a two-crust pastry (according to Paula's recipe) but I also had frozen (rolled) pie dough in the freezer, a la Pillsbury. (Again-- close enough, and much easier.)

In Paula Deen's cookbook, she gives you the ingredients for the pie pastry, but when my husband ordered the pot pie at The Lady & Sons, that dish was covered with strips of puff-pastry dough, and I've seen Paula use frozen puff-pastry dough on other baked dishes on her cooking show. The Pillsbury pie dough would be fine, but I know the puff-pastry would've been better, and I've made a note of that on my grocery list for the next time.

Anyway..... back to the pie. I used one can of Cream of Mushroom soup, added half a cup of milk to that, then added about 3/4 cup of grated cheddar cheese. Let that all get good and hot, and I added about 1/4 cup of sauted/diced onion. Into that, I stirred in about a cup of cooked frozen peas, and a cup of cooked thin carrot sticks.

While all that was going on, I cooked a good-sized chicken breast in my favorite cast iron pan (love this pan!). When that was done, I cut the chicken into cubes and stirred that into the soup/cheese/vegetable mixture.

I used a deep-dish pie pan, lined just the center of the pan with half of the Pillsbury pie dough, then poured in the chicken/vegetable mixture. I cut the other half of the pie dough into strips, and did a lattice design on top of the chicken pot pie. Brushed that lattice with egg yolk, and into the oven it went..... 350 degrees for 35 minutes. While that was baking, I made myself a big salad, but left a small spot on the plate for just a spoonful of the chicken pot pie.

Well, Paula would've been proud. That pie browned up perfectly, the sauce thickened and was all nice and bubbly inbetween the pastry strips, and best of all-- it was delicious. My husband was pleasantly surprised.... I know he gets anxious when I change a recipe around. When he cooks, he follows a printed recipe to a "T," never changing an ingredient, practically counting the grains if a recipe calls for a pinch of something. As a result, his dishes come out perfectly, but they're very time-consuming..... between checking the pantry shelves, driving to Kroger for the missing ingredients, driving home, unpacking the sacks, then finally getting to the recipe.... wears me out, I swear.

Life is just too short for that, in my opinion. Recipes are a guideline.... follow them if you must, and if you have all the ingredients. But if you don't, then just make do with what you have. It's not the worst thing in the world if a recipe doesn't turn out cookbook-picture-perfect.... and my favorite kitchen saying is "Well, it won't be my last meal." (To which, my husband has often replied: "Well, how can you be sure about that?)

This afternoon's chicken pot pie turned out extremely well..... so well that my husband said it would be a good pot-luck dinner party recipe. Can't get any higher praise than that. So.... to paraphrase Paula Deen: "Best wishes for best dishes.... from my poorly-stocked pantry to yours!"