Okay, so this, is a recipe you are going to want to make. Like pronto. 😉
Yesterday after our walk around the harbor, Mrs. HB and I went back to her place and made the most amazing cast iron skillet chicken pot pies for our families. Little HB boy gave Mrs. HB the cookbook Lodge Cast Iron Nation for Christmas and when she came across this recipe she just knew we had to make it. And so we did. And it was AWESOME.
The only thing we both decided we wanted to change next time around was to add MORE carrots {which I’ve reflected in our revised version of the recipe below}. We started the pot pies at Mrs. HB’s house in the morning and then both of us set aside the dishes in our refrigerators until dinner time, when we added our crusts just before baking. Everything was totally spot on and both The Girl and the HH loved the pot pie {and especially that biscuit crust!} and they are looking forward to having the leftovers in their lunches today.
Home cooking, it doesn’t get much better than this.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 celery rib, diced
- 2 large carrots, sliced
- 3 cups cubed chicken {in 1″ pieces}
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
- 1 cup fresh mushrooms, diced
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
Ingredients for the gravy
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup 2% milk
Ingredients for the biscuit crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup chilled vegetable shortening
- 1 cup 2% milk
Directions
Grease a 2 quart cast iron skillet and set aside.
Over medium heat melt the butter in cast iron skillet and saute the onions, celery and carrots until tender. Stir in the mushrooms, peas, chicken and salt and pepper and set aside. In a heavy saucepan melt the shortening over medium heat. Slowly whisk in the flour, and stir constantly {about 3 minutes}. Remove from heat and gradually mix in the milk and chicken broth until well blended. Return the sauce to the heat and cook, stirring constantly until the sauce has thickened to a nice gravy. Pour gravy over the chicken and vegetable mixture in the skillet and set aside.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees
To make the biscuit crust, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. Cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add the milk and stir until a dough forms. Gently roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface to about a height of 1/3 inch thickness. Drape the dough over the chicken pie filling cast iron skillet and crimp the edges around the top of the pan. Cut a few vents on top of the biscuit crust and pop in the oven. Bake at 425 degrees for about 20 – 22 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned and the gravy juices are bubbling up through the vents in the crust.
Serves 6-8
Laura says
I don’t much care for using shortening in my cooking (trans fats and all), so I would use butter instead. I think it would work fine, but was curious if you agreed since I haven’t made this recipe before. It is kinda odd to have shortening for the roux (IMHO) so was wondering if there was a reason for this. TIA!
Carrie says
I also don’t like to use vegetable shortening and was wondering the same thing. I bet it’ll work out fine. I don’t use crisco in my pie crusts and use butter instead.
Mavis Butterfield says
This was our first time making this recipe and we used shortening as that is what it called for. I’m sure butter would be fine though.
Mama Cook says
I’ve made pie crust with Coconut Oil and it turns out beautiful! I think that could be a healthy alternative as well.☺️
Laura says
Great idea! Thanks!
Michelle says
Bake at 425 or 450? Says both in the recipe.
Mavis Butterfield says
Fixed. It’s 425. 🙂
Jennifer Brown says
Looks yummy! And I would just sub butter as well. Thanks Ladies!
Lace Faerie says
Beautiful dish, bet it was quite tasty!
I cannot leave moist food in my pan that long. Even though I’ve been using my pan for 3 decades and it is properly seasoned, it rusts in no time flat. I’m speaking of the short time of sitting down and eating the meal. I’m thinking my pan isn’t a very quality product, but it has given us many, many tasty meals over the years.
BTW, I started using my cast iron (wedding gifts ) when I became severely anemic after a complicated delivery of our first child.
Mrs. M. says
Hello from Canada. I made this for dinner tonight, so good! A great meal for a very cold snowy night. I just doubled the gravy recipe so we would have extra to pou over. Look forward to your email every day. Thank you.
jackie klish says
What a wonderful meal! I have never made a pot pie or biscuits before, and this turned out so delicious. I stretched the amount of ingredients a bit and added a small amount of mixed seasoning and salt to the gravy, since my stock was salt free. This is an easy recipe to modify, and I’d like to try it with seafood, maybe scallops and shrimp. My boyfriend is a top food photographer, so he’s enjoyed fabulous food from everywhere. He said it was the best he’s ever had!