Bless Her Heart

One of the most difficult choices that Southern cooks and chefs face, perhaps, is what kind of bread to use for making chicken pot pie.

Biscuits never seem to cook enough when added to the top of a chicken pot pie.

Cornbread has too much of a cornbread taste. This makes for a very heavy meal.

Crushed crackers are more of a topping, not a pie crust. You might as well just make the filling and then crumble the crackers on top. That would probably be much easier.

So I’ve finally decided that the answer is phyllo dough.

Now when you make a chicken pot pie, you not only get the delicious mix of vegetables and tender chicken and the savory cream sauce with every bite…you also get a taste of the light and crispy thin layer of phyllo dough.

What more can a girl ask for?

Assuming that you have a clean fork, that is.

Surprisingly, this chicken pot pie comes together in only 15 minutes and doesn’t require fifteen thousand steps.

And honestly, this is probably my most favorite of all the 31 comfort food entrees that I am sharing with you in this series of posts.

• 20 sheets frozen phyllo dough, thawed
• 10Tbsp butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• ½C chopped carrot
• 1C diced potato
• ¼C flour
• ½tsp salt
• ½tsp pepper 
• 1½C chicken broth
• 1C milk
• ½C canned English peas
• ½C canned corn
• 1# cooked and shredded chicken

Thaw the Phyllo Dough: Refrigerate the the phyllo pastry anywhere from eight to 24 hours in the original package. Thawing the dough in the fridge, instead of on the counter at room temperature, keeps the phyllo sheets from becoming gummy.

Make sure that the dough is at room temperature before using.

Cook the onions: Lightly grease a casserole dish. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Heat a large skillet over medium heat, Melt 5Tbsp butter in the skillet. Add onions, celery. carrots and potatoes. Cook 10 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.

Prepare the filling: Melt 5Tbsp butter in the same pan. Whisk in flour, salt and pepper until well blended. Cook for one minute. Stir together the stock and milk. Microwave until warm. Then gradually whisk this into the mixture until smooth. Cook until the sauce gently thickens. Fold in the peas, corn, diced chicken and sauteed veggies. Adjust seasoning as needed. Cover the pan. Simmer five minutes, stirring every once in a while. Spoon the chicken mixture into the baking dish.

Assemble: Transfer the chicken mixture to a baking dish.

Carefully unroll eight phyllo dough sheets onto a smooth, dry surface.

Cover the remaining seven phyllo sheets with Saran Wrap and then a clean, slightly dampened kitchen towel. Keep them covered while working with each sheet. This keeps the sheets from drying out. Each time a sheet is removed, make sure the remaining ones are covered with the damp towel.

Melt 5Tbsp butter in microwave.

Add one piece of phyllo dough to the top of the baking dish…over the chicken mixture.Use a soft bristle brush to lightly brush melted butter or olive oil onto the phyllo sheet, starting from the edges and then moving toward the center. This will keep the filo dough from cracking.

Add a second piece of the phyllo dough over the first. Brush the second sheet of dough with melted butter.

Keep doing this until you’ve used all the phyllo dough sheets.

Crimp the edges or tuck them in to create a crust.

Tent the dish loosely with foil, making sure to not crush the phyllo topping.

Bake: Bake the pot pie for 15 minutes. Remove the foil. Cool the pot pie for 10 minutes before serving. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, until the filling is bubbly and the phyllo topping is crisp and golden brown.

Serve: Let the chicken pot pie stand for 5 minutes before serving. Serve hot.

To store: Cover any cooled leftovers with foil. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to three days. Reheat leftovers in a preheated oven at 250 degrees F for 20 minutes, or in the microwave for two minutes, or until hot.

To freeze: Freeze the cooled leftovers in a freezer-safe container for up to two months.