Wednesday, January 15, 2014

CHICKEN POT PIE (And you won't even know it's Paleo!)

I need to write this recipe down or else I will forget how I made these delicious chicken pot pies.

Makes three small casserole dishes, as shown in the picture.

First, boil some chicken - about 1 breast and 3 thighs should do it.  The broth will be used for the gravy so don't toss it!  After the chicken is done, debone the pieces.

GRAVY:
4+ cups of the chicken broth
2 medium onions, chopped large
1 1/2 cups (almost a whole head) of cauliflower
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 T. thyme
1/2 teaspoon tarragon
shake in some salt
shake in some pepper

Bring the chicken broth and other ingredients to a boil then reduce heat and simmer for about 30 minutes.  (Continue on to the filling while this is simmering.)  Using a stick blender, blend until fully blended.  (I just wanted to use the words blend, blender, and blended all in the same sentence.)  Set aside.

FILLING: 
3 carrots
4 stalks celery
1 small bag of pearl onions, about 16 or so
1 cup chopped cauliflower
1/2 cup or so of frozen peas (for two of the pies)
1/4 cup of canned green beans (for the other pie)
3 heaping tablespoons of bacon grease

Heat the bacon grease in a skillet and cook the carrots, celery, pearl onions and cauliflower until they are just tender, about 15 minutes or so.  (This is where I start the crust.)  Then I split the mix, 1/3, 2/3s and I add the peas to the 2/3 and the green beans to the 1/3.  Add a handful+ of the deboned chicken for each dish.  Heat that until the peas, green beans, and chicken are warmed through.

Crust:
I use the recipe from "Against All Grain" by Danielle Walker.  This is my favorite paleo cookbook.
3 3/4 cup almond flour
1 1/2 tablespoons coconut flour
1 1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 egg (I scramble them in a bowl then pour a little out)
5 tablespoons ice water
A shy 5 tablespoons palm shortening

Place first 5 ingredients in a food processor and process for 30 seconds.  Add the shortening in small spoonfuls, spacing them out around the bowl.  Pulse 4 or 5 times, just enough for the shortening to be mixed in and the dough to come together.  (This is what the cookbook says.  I found I had to empty the mixture into a bowl and continue to work the shortening in by hand - or spoon would work.)  Divide the dough into three balls and plop them one at a time onto a sheet of parchment paper.  After pounding the dough down to a flat circle, cover it with another sheet of parchment paper and roll dough until it is large enough to fit over the casserole dish.  Do the same for the next two.

Putting it all together:
Divide the filling into the casserole dishes.  Pour the gravy over and jiggle so it works its way through.  It should be at least a half inch from the top.  Lay the dough on top of the mixture and shape around the edges as you desire.  Slit the top a little.  Bake at 375* for 40 minutes.


  

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