Cold weather cravings

 Fall has officially come. The weather has been on the cold side recently and as a result certain cravings have been building. I've been longing for some chicken pot pie and was waiting on pins and needles for a really cold/stormy day to make it. Today was cold, wet and a bit dreary, perfect for eating a comforting pot pie.
   I started messing around with making my own pot pies last fall/winter. The development process resulted in Doug and I having pot pie about once a week until I got things the way I wanted. There were several successes and a couple of failures [like the time I used WAY too much sage...blech] My opinion on pot pie differs from  the traditional and changed over the course of recipe building. I'm not a fan of runny/soupy pot pies and wanted more stuff than sauce in the pie itself. Traditionally pot pies have a bottom and top crust but the bottom crust usually ended up soggy or turned to mush. For that reason and simplicity in making the pot pie I eliminated the bottom crust in my recipe. Tonight's pot pie was a slight variation from my normal version since I had baby yams to use up. Normally I would of used russet potatoes but after tonight's experimentation I'll be switching back and forth.
   I start off with good old bacon grease in a deep pot and sauté shallots and garlic to start developing flavors. [Did I mention that this is NOT a low fat or calorie counting recipe]. Next up are diced up veggies; usually a combination of carrots, celery and potatoes [swapped for baby yams]. I let these cook covered until they are tender stirring occasionally. By covering them while cooking they steam and cook much faster.

All the veggies melding together 

   While the veggies were cooking away I diced up 2 chicken breasts and coated them with a packet of Lipton Golden Onion Soup mix. The soup mix adds flavor and acts as a thickener. I cooked the chicken in a skillet with some extra virgin olive oil and then mixed them in with the cooked veggies. The baby yams had started to mush up a bit and were binding everything together really well. Next came heavy cream, grated Parmesan cheese and mixing until everything is warm and gooey [yum!]. 

The completed filling mixture

I spread the filling out in a glass baking dish and top it with rolled out crescent rolls. I have found that crescent rolls are the easiest and best tasting option for my pot pie. I really struggled with making pie dough and discovered this option out of necessity. Oh! I forgot to mention that it is key to salt and pepper right after you add anything to the pan [it all helps to develop the best possible flavors from the ingredients]. I bake the pot pie at 350 degrees for 30 min or until the rolls are brown on top. You'll want to let everything cool down for about 10 min so the thick sauce can form.

Tonight's pot pie was probably my all time best. The baby yams added so much to the texture and flavor of the dish. For once I have nothing that I would change about my dish! Usually I have about 3 things that I would change.  I have reached what I consider recipe perfection with one of my made from scratch creations. Happy Day!!!