Individual Chicken Hand Pies




There's a "famous" chicken pot pie company around here. I heard about this company on The Phantom Gourmet way before I knew anything else about this area. Their pies are filled with a lot of white gravy and chicken, but not much else in the way of filling. In contrast, you can eat the filling in these hand pies by itself with a fork (and I have). This filing is thick and full of veggies, and I like these pies much better than the famous ones. The best part is that you get a lot more crust with these individual pies than with a full size chicken pot pie.

Other notes about this recipe - this time I made proper squares but usually I just quarter the round pie crusts so the pies come out wedge shaped. It's a bit less work than re-rolling the pie crusts and cutting out squares. Additionally, per request, I'm planning to try adding some peas to these next time. The amount of filling that this recipe makes is generally a bit more than will fit in the crusts, so I need to remember to use more pie crust next time.


Individual Chicken Hand Pies

2 chicken breasts (about 1 lb of chicken)
1 medium potato (or two small potatoes), diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
3 medium carrots, diced
2 medium stalks of celery, diced
2 cloves garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp butter
3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups chicken stock
2 pie crusts (I use store bought, one box has 2 crusts)
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 425°. Heat a pan on medium low and cook the chicken breasts, covered, for 10-15 minutes until cooked through. Set the chicken breasts aside until they are cool enough to handle.

Add the diced potato to a small pot of water and bring to a boil. Cook the potato until tender, about 2-3 minutes. Drain the potatoes and set aside.

Add the olive oil to the same pan that you cooked the chicken in. Add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic and cook at medium heat until the vegetables begin to soften, about 10 minutes. Season the vegetables generously with salt and pepper.

While the vegetables are cooking, shred the chicken by hand or with a fork. Add the chicken, potatoes and butter to the pan and sprinkle the flour over the mixture. Add the stock and stir everything together. Season to taste with more salt and pepper.

Roll out the pie crusts and cut into squares or wedges. Scoop a cup of filling onto one half of each crust, and cover with the second half. Press around the edges of each pie with a fork and cut vents in the top of each pie.

Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush the top of each pie with the egg wash. Place each pie on a cookie sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Makes 4-5 pies.

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