chicken pot chicken pot

Chicken Pot Pie, Day 1:

Morning:

Roast a chicken. My chicken roasting method has been the same for a decade: spatchcock it (cut through one side with a sharp knife and split it open) and roast it at high heat, 450, for an hour to an hour and a half depending on the size of the chicken.

Seasonings are unnecessary unless you plan to eat some of the chicken without putting it in the pot pie.

Let the chicken cool completely.

Noon:

Remove meat from chicken carcass, chop up, and put in the refrigerator.

Add skin and bones and drippings from the pan to a pot (crockpot's fine), cover with water, and let simmer all day and night.

You can season the chicken stock with any vegetable scraps you happen to have, but carrot, celery, turnip, and onion work especially well.

Chicken Pot Pie, Day 2:

Midday:

Make pie crust and refrigerate until needed.

Strain chicken stock and reduce until it's no bigger than the volume of a pie plate.

Refrigerate chicken stock.

Chop vegetables: celery, carrot, onion. (I have interesting things in my freezer, so actually used celery, onion, green chile, and ramps.)

When it's time to make dinner:

Remove solidified chicken fat - schmaltz - from the surface of the chilled chicken stock. Melt in a pan big enough to hold the stock, chicken, and vegetables. Add a little flour and stir together until the flour is no longer raw.

Add vegetables to the roux, stir for a few minutes, and add the stock. Cook down as needed. Add chicken, salt and pepper (do not skimp on the salt), and pour into a pie plate lined with pie crust. Cover with second crust. Brush top crust with a little butter.

Bake at 350 for an hour.

Let cool 15 minutes before eating.

(It's raining, I can't get a good photo. You know what chicken pot pie looks like.)