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Curry Chicken Pot Pie

Now that I buy whole chickens from local farms, I’m always looking for new recipes using cooked chicken.  (Some day I’ll learn how to cut a chicken into parts and maybe even how to cut the breast meat off the bone, but for now I just cook ’em whole and figure out what to do with the harvested meat.)

We love my Chicken Enchiladas and Chicken Chili, but to be honest, we’re getting tired of the same two dishes.  So a few weeks ago I put out a call for recipes using cooked chicken meat, and reader Nancy recommended Alton Brown’s curry chicken pot pie.

I knew immediately that it would be a hit, and I have had a package of puff pastry in my freezer for probably six months so it was clearly meant to be.  (And yes, I realize that packaged puff pastry is not a whole food.  We’re not 100% around here and I don’t expect we ever will be.)

Turns out, this is a tasty dish that is easy to throw together if you have the cooked chicken already in your fridge.  So here’s how it all went down.

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Spread the mixed veggies onto a cookie sheet, toss in olive oil, and pop them into a 400-degree oven to cook until they’re nice and golden brown.

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Meanwhile, sweat the onion and celery.  I had to look up what this meant.  When you sweat veggies, you cook them over low heat with a cover on, to bring out the moisture.  I didn’t have celery or onions in the house, so I used scallions.  Then you’re supposed to add 2 more tablespoons of butter and cook out the water.  I’m really not sure what the point is, but I did it because I generally do what I’m told.

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While that’s all happening, you heat up milk and chicken broth in a saucepan.  Yes, this recipe uses a lot of pans.  But it bakes for 30 minutes so you can clean up the pans while it’s cooking and when you sit down to dinner, you have the dishes half done.

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Then you go back to the onions and you add the flour and the curry powder.

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Cook one to two minutes and then whisk in the hot milk mixture and cook until thickened.  Then all you do is add the parsley, salt & pepper, the browned vegetables, and the chicken and pour the whole mixture into a pie plate lined with foil.

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Then top with 6 to 8 circles of puff pastry. I placed the whole thing on a foil lined baking sheet, in case it decided to overflow my pie plate.

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Next time I’ll cut the pastry into a circle.  I thought the corners would kind of fold over and make a nice crust, but they didn’t quite do that.  It tasted fine, but it looked kind of funky.  At any rate, put it in the oven and cook until the puff pastry is golden and the filling is hot and bubbly, about 30 minutes.

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And that’s that!  You don’t even have to worry about preparing a side dish, unless you want a fresh salad, which would be a nice touch.  I always like to have something fresh with my one dish meals.

You can get the recipe in its entirety at FoodNetwork.com.  The only alterations I made was to use olive oil instead of canola, and I only used half the curry powder it called for.  I wasn’t sure if I’d like the curry flavor so I went easy on it.  I think it was perfect for us.  I also used whole milk and homemade chicken stock.

Got more chicken recipes for me to try?  I’d love to get more suggestions!

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15 Responses

  1. This is a nice touch to chicken pot pie! I’m filing this to use in the winter since I’m trying to keep the oven off a much as possible now that it’s warm weather season!

  2. Glad that I was able to recommend a recipe to you. This is also a good recipe to use after Thanksgiving when trying to finish the leftover turkey meat.
    Last week instead of doing a 7 day menu plan, I planned for 25 meals, then went shopping at the commissary for as much as I could in advance. Ten of the 25 meals, I told myself, had to be new recipes while the remaining were tried and true. So far it is working, and I’m loving it.
    My recipes this month called for uncooked chicken; I’ll let you know if I come up with any family approved cooked chicken recipes next month.

  3. That looks delicious! I’ve made chicken pot pie and curry chicken but never thought of combining elements from both in the same dish.

  4. I don’t know if you want any more chicken recipes, but here’s one I’ve been using since I’m buying organic whole chickens. The flavor is so good:
    Chicken in a Pot (Amer. Test Kitchen)
    Rinse and salt a whole chicken. Brown it on both sides in a large, deep heavy pan (oven-proof) in 2 Tb olive oil. I use a cast-iron chicken fryer. Add chopped up celery (you really need to keep a head of it all the time; it’s so good with chicken), 6 garlic cloves, onion, rosemary, and a bay leaf. Cover with foil and a heavy lid, sealing the pot. Cook on 250 for 1 hour 30 minutes. It should be just about falling apart. Allow to sit in pot for 15 minutes. Pour off juices into a small saucepan, straining out veggies. Add a bit of butter and lemon juice to juices. Heat a bit. The flavor of this bird is the whole point; the skin may or may not be delectable. Good with rice. This chicken is quick and tends to itself.

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