CHICKEN POT PIE WITH BISCUITS

It was started when I met my high school friend who fortunately is living in US too. We were just like 2 teenagers who are so ecstatic to found each other in this far far away country :). Now, we exchanged email EVERYDAY!! :)). But, we were not talked about those memories only, but also, we exchanged recipes as well. And guess what, I got many ideas and new recipes after I saw her foods' photos. Gosh....it is really amazing to know that she is a good chef now, when I looked back our high school time, she just a different person now! :).

After I saw her chicken pie, then it made me want to make it too, since I never make any pies at all, I asked her the recipe, but unfortunately, she lost her pie crust notes that she got from her MIL. So, as usual, I asked Mr. Google for this recipe.

I found lots of chicken pies' recipes with different kind of toppings. So, I saw this chicken pot pie with biscuits' recipe which was a bit different than chicken pie. The fillings are same, the only different is I will use biscuit instead of crust *I'm still waiting for my friend's pie crust recipe*.

It was really good...of cos the taste little bit different than the crust. My hubby never taste chicken pie with biscuit before. He is complained,"It is not chicken pot pie". Then I explained to him that this is a different crust only. But, after few bites, he said,"It is good hun!", then he got his second pie :).

So, thank you Sel for the idea of this chicken pie, I can't wait to try the one with pie crust :). I got your MIL recipe already ;).

Chicken Pot Pie with Biscuits

Source: Michael C.

Ingredients:

CREAMED CHICKEN:

4 tbsps of butter

1/2 cup of all-purpose flour

2 cups of chicken broth

1-1/2 cups whole milk

3 pieces of chicken breasts, cooked and cubed (Belzy -- I baked the chicken with salt and blackpepper)

2 tbsps of sherry (Belzy -- I substituted it to shaoxing wine)

1 tsp of nutmeg

1/2 piece of lemon, squeeze the juice only

Blackpepper and salt to taste

CHICKEN POT PIE:

2 tbsps of butter

1 piece of medium onion, chopped

1-1/2 cups of carrots, chopped

4 stalks of celery, chopped

1/2 cup of frozen peas, defrost

2-1/2 quarts of creamed chicken (recipe follows)

Biscuit dough (recipe follows)

BISCUIT DOUGH:

2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tbsp of baking powder

1/4 tsp of salt

6 tbsps of cold butter

3/4 cups of milk

Methods:

FOR CREAMED CHICKEN:

Melt butter in saucepan over low heat. Pour flour in and toss. After flour and butter mixed thoroughly (about 1 minute), remove the pan from heat and add 2 cups of chicken broth. Whisk until smooth.

Add milk and toss over medium heat until simmering. Remove it from heat and scrape the sides of the saucepan with a heat-proof spatula. Whisk vigorously to break and chunks and return to medium heat for one more minute.

Turn off the heat and mix in chicken and sherry until evenly mixed. Add lemon juice, nutmeg, salt and blackpepper to taste.

FOR CHICKEN POT PIE:

Melt butter in nonstick skillet over medium heat. When butter is foaming, stir in onions, celery and carrots. Cook it until tender about five minutes. Remove from the heat.

Pour in the vegetables mixture (including parsley and peas) into creamed chicken, toss it well. Pour the creamed chicken mixture into 9x13-in. baking pan. Top it with biscuit dough.

After making biscuit dough, cut the dough into square form, and layout all the biscuit pieces to cover the pot pie.

Using a pastry brush, brush beaten egg over the surface of the pot pie biscuit. Then, baking it in the preheated 400`F oven for 25 to 35 minutes or until the biscuit is golden brown and the chicken mixture is bubbling. Serve it warm.

FOR BISCUIT DOUGH:

In a big bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt together. Then, using a pastry cutter or you hands, cut the butter into the flour. Basically, cut the butter and mix with flour to coat and separate the pieces. Continue mixing until you get pea sized pieces of butter. (* see note below)

Pour the milk in and mix gently with a spatula. Do not knead it, just a gently mix. (** see note below)

Form the dough into a ball once the milk has been evenly distributed through the dough. (*** see note below)

Transfer the dough to a piece of parchment paper or clean surface and roll out into big square sheet into 1/4 inch thickness. Then cut it into little square form.

Note:

* it is important that the butter be cold for this process and not begin to melt. If it starts to get a little mushy, you can slip it into the refrigerator for 15 minutes to firm back up a bit before continuing.

** kneading will produce gluten which will make the biscuit bread like instead of light and flaky.

*** you might need to use a kneading action to make a dough ball, but do not knead too much.