Chicken Potpie — Summer Suppers

This is the one I come back to most. The same handful of vegetables — peas, carrots, corn, green beans, and mushrooms — folded into chicken and its gravy with a little cream, all under a double crust made from scratch. It is the supper I make when I want the house to smell like something good is happening, and there is rarely a slice left by morning.

Ingredients

For the filling

3 cups cooked chicken, shredded or cubed
2 cups chicken gravy
¼ cup cream
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup peas
1 cup corn
1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp fresh thyme (or ½ tsp dried)
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 egg, beaten, for the wash

For the crust

1 double batch of the house Pie Crust, chilled

Method

Roll out the bottom crust and settle it into a 9-inch pie plate.
Melt the butter in a skillet. Soften the onion, garlic, and mushrooms until golden and fragrant.
Add the carrots, peas, corn, and green beans, and warm through.
Stir in the chicken, gravy, thyme, and the cream. Season well with salt and pepper.
Let the filling cool slightly — a warm, not hot, filling keeps the bottom crust from going soft.
Fill the shell, mounding gently toward the center.
Lay the top crust over, trim, crimp the edges, and cut a few steam vents.
Brush all over with the egg wash.
Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes.
Reduce to 350°F and bake 30–40 minutes more, until deeply golden and bubbling.

If the edges color before the top sets, lay a loose ring of foil over them and let the pie finish.

"Let it rest fifteen minutes before slicing, so the filling settles into something you can lift cleanly. Like its turkey cousin, it freezes beautifully unbaked — a good supper to have waiting for a busy evening."