Chicken Potpie

This recipe is made to fit into a 2.5 qt pan. Mine is a deeper dish, and is approximately 3.5in. tall.

2 cup warm water
2 tsp chicken base
4 tsp chicken bouillon granules (or 4 cubes granules)
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup onions, diced
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed
1/2 cup cubed cooked chicken
1 jar (4 1/2 oz) sliced mushrooms, drained

Pastry for a single-crust pie (bought or your recipe of choice) *see below recipe for doing a top and bottom crust

Preheat oven to 450. Grease 2.5 qt baking dish.
Combine water, chicken base, and chicken bouillon in small bowl.
Preheat small pan over med-low heat with olive oil; saute onions until clear.
In a 2 qt saucepan, melt butter. Slowly stir in flour and thyme to avoid lumps, whisk until smooth (I love to use my Ikea sauce whisk here). Stir in bouillon mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.
Add mixed vegetables, chicken, onion, and mushrooms into gravy like mixture and stir well. Pour into baking dish.
Roll out pastry to fit top of dish. Place over filling; trim and press edges to baking dish to seal. Cut ~1in slits in top. Bake at 450 for 18-20 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting.


If you are planning to do pie crust for the top and bottom of the potpie, please see following directions:
No need to grease baking dish.

Flaky Pastry Dough for 2 crust 10-Inch Pie (or to line top and bottom of potpie)
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt (I usually make this a heaping scoop)
About 1 1/2 Tbs butter (not margarine)
1 cup combined butter and shortening (please read full directions so you will better understand this)
6 to 8 Tbs cold water

Sift flour into medium mixing bowl; blend with salt. Place butter in 1 cup measuring cup; fill remainder of cup with shortening (basically you want 1 cup minus 1 1/2 tsp in shortening... but who wants to measure that out?). Add butter and shortening to flour; cut in using pastry cutter or fork. Add water, 1 Tbs at a time, tossing after each addition; form into 1 large ball and cut into half, but with slightly more in one half than the other. Roll out the larger half first, so trimmings can be combined into smaller half. As you roll out dough, turn over the dough frequently, to be sure it is not sticking.

After adding filling, roll out smaller half and cover pot pie. Pinch edges together, and cut slits in top. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Cook's notes: I love that this freezes beautifully. I like to put 1 serving quantities in my small microwavable plastic dishes, so it can be warmed easily at a later time. The Flaky Pastry Dough recipe can be used for pies as well.

Sources:
The recipe is a variation from Taste of Home's Chicken Potpie

The Flaky Pie Dough recipe was taken from The Everything Cookbook copyright 1970 by Betty Wason