Chicken Pot Pie

When I was a little girl, one of my absolute winter favorites was chicken pot pie. That's why it came as somewhat as a shock to me that I had no recipe for it in the cookbook my mother put together for me. It's been over ten years since I've lived at my parents' house and at least five years since I really mastered cooking, and I have never made a chicken pot pie. I don't know if it was fear of being unable to recreate it the way my mom made it, or my lazy nature, as chicken pot pie is rather work intensive. Either way, I never should have let this get to this point, because chicken pot pie is really damn good.

CHICKEN POT PIE
makes 2 pies in 1.4 L dishes

Ingredients:
1 recipe pie crust
3 chicken breasts
~ 1 cup cream (1/2 cup for poaching, 1/2 cup for adding liquid)
1/4 C white wine
4 carrots, peeled and coined
1/2 package Birdseye frozen peas (this is about 5 oz)
1/2 mushrooms, stemmed and chopped
1/2 large onion chopped
1 T flour
1 T olive oil
2 t tarragon
salt and pepper
1 egg or 1/4 c egg beaters for egg wash on crust

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 F. Trim and rinse chicken, pat dry. Place in a ovenproof dish in a single layer and season breasts with salt and pepper. Then pour over the first 1/2 c of cream, add slightly more if needed. Poach in your oven for 35 minutes. After 35 minutes the chicken should be cooked, let it cool and then cut into bite sized pieces. Reserve the poaching liquids. Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add your coined carrots. Let them cook for 2 minutes and then drain and set aside. In a large pan, sautee the onion in the olive oil. Add the tablespoon of flour. Cook for 5 minutes to allow the flour to cook. Then add the poaching liquid, stir well so that the flour mixture does not clump. Add the 1/4 C of white wine (or vermouth). Cook for 5 minutes. Then add the cut up chicken, peas, carrots, mushroom. Add the tarragon. Give it a quick taste, add more salt and pepper if necessary. Stir mixture together. If it seems really dry, you can add the other 1/2 c cream. Remember the mixture will release more liquid in the oven, so it will become juicer as it cooks, you don't want it overly soupy. Split the pot pie mixture between two ovenproof dishes. Roll out your two pie crusts. They will be thicker than a normal pie crust. Mold them down over the top of your dishes as shown above. Slash three vents in the top and use a basting brush to apply the egg beaters or well stirred egg as a wash to get the nice brown crust. Bake for 25 minutes at 425.