#FRD2014 – part deux – stovetop chicken pot pie

For the 2014 French (Food Revolution) Friday, I prepared Dorie Greenspan’s classic roast chicken recipe roast chicken for les paresseux. In my post, I suggested several ideas for what to do with the leftover chicken. In this case, I also had some nice juices, some roasted potatoes and onions left over as well. One of my suggestions was for a chicken pot pie. Since this year’s Food Revolution Day was about recipes that kids should learn to make, I chose to follow up with something that, while using some convenience items, still would be creating a good-quality meal. As well, this is quick – about 25-35 minutes total, something pretty doable even with a busy schedule.

I adapted this recipe from a Southern Living Magazine. It calls for using frozen biscuits for the “topping” element. While I do make mine from scratch from time-to-time, even my friends in Atlanta agree that these are great. They are miles better than anything found in a can, and have the added benefit of allowing for baking the exact number you want to have – so that they can always be fresh. This also utilizes cream of mushroom soup, and I didn’t vary from that either, since I didn’t think this needed to get too fussy.

Stovetop Chicken Pot Pie
8 frozen buttermilk or southern-style biscuits
1 sweet onion, diced
1 T oil
8 oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced (I used crimini, and sliced them myself – I think they last longer purchased whole – but a package of sliced mushrooms of any variety will work)
3-4 c chopped chicken
1 (leftover roasted) potato, in chunks + any other vegetables from the roast
1 can cream of mushroom soup (low fat or regular)
1 c chicken broth (or the leftover juices from the roast chicken, with enough liquid added to make 1 c)
1/2 c dry white wine
4 oz cream cheese (low fat or regular)
Seasonings (at least pepper, or a favorite spice/herb blend)
1 c frozen peas (preferably thawed)

Prepare the number of biscuits you’ll want as directed on the package.

Heat the oil in a large skillet or wide saucepan, and add the onion. Cook that, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, until just beginning to brown. Add the mushrooms, and continue to saute for another 5 minutes or so until tender. (another note on mushrooms: if you are using white or crimini mushrooms, the freshest one are those with the top and stem still connected – if you can see the ribs, the mushrooms are older).

While the vegetables are cooking, remove the chicken from the bone and cut it into chunks, along with any vegetables left over. If you’d used other potato types or carrots, they would be great here. Don’t forget the roasted garlic as well. For this I used half of the head of roasted garlic.  If you are using a roasted chicken from the market, you won’t have the advantage of these extras, but it will still be tasty. I chose to use the dark meat and some of the white meat for this, saving some of the chicken breast for another meal. You can also assemble your other ingredients. Everything but the final seasoning gets added into the mushroom mixture.

This gets simmered together, seasoned and the peas added. It only takes a few minutes to finish up once the peas are added. By this time, the biscuits should be coming out of the oven.

If you aren’t using a chicken roasted at home, you will likely need to add more seasoning than I did. The roasted garlic, and the herb-infused and concentrated juices added plenty of flavor – all I needed was a bit of pepper. This ends up being a bit “deconstructed”, with the biscuits served on the side. Though certainly you could put the “filling” over the top of a split biscuit, or even place it in a baking dish, top with a crust and finish it off in the oven. That said, this is a delicious, very quick meal, that takes advantage of any of your leftovers, and provides another comforting, tasty meal in a quick time-frame.