catie's kid-friendly chicken pot pie
Catie's is one of those lovely faces you wonderful Muddy's customers don't get to see nearly enough. As a team leader and cake finisher in the Muddy's Kitchen, however, Catie has likely celebrated a birthday or two with you as she inscribed your cake with care, precision, and her simply sweet skills.
Ever since she moved to Memphis from Nebraska and joined the Muddy's team in March of 2015, Catie has endeared herself to the other gnomies of the kitchen with her aptitude for not only decorating a mean cake, but for cooking for a mean meal too. Namely, large-scale finger-licking, rib-sticking meals to feed a crowd of hungry bakers who don't have time to stop and make themselves a nourishing lunch when cranking out all the cakes and cookies and cupcakes and pies Memphis can handle on a weekend!
One of the crew's favorite lunches Catie whips up is her recipe for chicken pot pie. This may be more accurately called "Sal's Kid-Friendly Chicken Pot Pie," because the recipe originated in Catie's mother Sal's kitchen. While Catie was growing up in Nebraska, Catie's mother Sal ran a daycare, which meant she was cooking daily for even more kids than Catie and her five siblings. Sal developed a repertoire of kid-tested and approved recipes which she published in her Sal's House Cookbook along with some parent recipes and crafting instructionals too. Catie's own well-used copy holds this magical chicken pot pie recipe, a natural comfort food go-to that's as easy to scale up as it is to scale down (but why scale down when the recipe is so easy to freeze?)!
What's so special about this chicken pot pie recipe? As Catie says, it's simple and versatile. It works well as a base recipe with which to mix and match and interchange your own favorite meats and vegetables. The base recipe is also unique in that it doesn't have any onions or garlic, per the request of the kids of Sal's House. With so much flavor, they aren't likely to be missed, but feel free to add them in if you like!
Another thing that's special about the recipe? Quite simply, it is her mom's recipe, and as Catie says, "I learned to cook from my mom. She was always cooking for a crowd, so it's second nature to cook big meals like this for my coworkers. It's actually hard for me to scale back." But don't worry, we did scale this recipe back to make one single 10-inch pie.
catie's kid-friendly chicken pot pie
Ingredients for one 10-inch pie.
Ingredients
1 lb. chicken, cooked and shredded
3 cups gravy (see recipe below)
1/2 cup green beans
1/2 cup corn
1/2 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 cup diced potatoes
1/4 cup peas
2 pie shells of your choice
Gravy Ingredients
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
4 cups chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Cook your chicken (roast, poach, or simply use a rotisserie chicken) and shred it.
Make your gravy. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour to make a rue and stir a couple of minutes over the heat. Slowly pour in your stock, whisking constantly until it comes to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer a few minutes more until thickened, stirring occasionally.
Prep your veggies. Any vegetable of your choice may be substituted for a total of about 2 1/4 cups after ALL prepping, but the list above is kid-approved (and a hit with the Muddy's Kitchen gnomies, too)! Many people like to add onion and garlic, but Sal developed this recipe for kids who preferred it without. Feel free to use fresh, frozen, or canned. The only vegetables in this recipe that require precooking are the potatoes (though be sure to slice your carrots thinly to ensure they cook through). To parboil your potatoes, simply wash them and throw them in a pot of water with plenty of salt. Boil for 6-7 minutes, drain, cool, and finally dice them. Chop remaining vegetables and combine them.
Combine your veggies, gravy, and chicken. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Assemble your pie. Roll out your pie shells, and place one into the pie pan. Add filling to the pie shell, ensuring that it reaches the top of the pan. Top with second pie shell, and seal by tucking both crusts under (or over if that's your thing). Cut a few vents into the top of the crust: we recommend a shape like a heart, star, smiley face, or a lightning bolt. Egg wash the pie for a golden hue if desired, and sprinkle it with a little salt.
Bake the pie 30-45 minutes, or until it is golden and the filling just begins to bubble (ensure your vents are wide enough to allow this to be visible). Allow to set at least 10 minutes before serving.
And yes, those are our world-famous Prozac Cupcakes--chocolate cake + chocolate icing--pictured above. They're the perfect comfort food ending the a perfect comfort food meal, or any meal really. Or, if you prefer a pie, Catie recommends Muddy's Shady Wake Pie, our classic southern pecan pie done right. Catie likes it because, as she says, "It reminds me of my mom's. I thought she had the best one, actually, until I tried Muddy's!"
