Badass Pot Pie

Badass Pot Pie Recipe

This is the kind of recipe you would want to keep in case life gives you the opportunity to become a grandma(or grandpa). Mmmmh I can envision some cute little chubby cheeks whining at me, saying “Granny D, please make us some Badass Pot Pie.” Seriously, it literally tastes THAT good!

Crust

Ingredients:

160 gr of flour (all purpose)

1 tsp of sugar

100 gr of ice cold unsalted butter/margarine

½ tsp of salt

3-5 tbsp of ice cold water

Methods:

Roughly whisk all the dry ingredients(flour, sugar, salt) and place them in a food processor.

Next step is to incorporate the butter. This is basically the key to having a flaky pie crust; the butter must not be at room temperature. I’ve always frozen the butter beforehand in the fridge; it doesn’t have to be completely frozen as in ice-cube-frozen, but it needs to be at a solid form. Cut up the butter into smaller pieces and add them into the dry ingredients. If your butter is salted, then no worries, just cut down the amount of salt you put into the recipe. You can also use margarine. Blend everything in the food processor until they resemble a coarse salt (it ain’t smooth looking yet).

Don’t have a food processor? That’s okay, it’s not the end of the world. You need to make sure that your butter is completely frozen, then grate it with a cheese grater into the flour mixture and incorporate them with your hands ;)

Next, add the ice cold water 1 tbsp at a time; I figured that 2 tbsp is actually more than enough to transform the “coarse salt” into a smooth pie dough. 

Take out the dough, form it into a disks (round shape, okay?) and cover in a plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours(the longer the better though). This step lets the dough to chill and causes it to have the kind of structure to make the rolling easier. 

After the chilling period, next step is of course to roll it. Now, when you watch some baking shows, it almost always seems too easy-peasy, nothing-but-a-walk-in-the-park kinda thing. BUT it ain’t as easy as how it looks like, son. It’s damn tricky.  If you’re an experienced pie maker, skip this step I’m about to tell you and just roll the dough in a lightly floured surface ,roll away with a pin, and place it in the pie crust container. 

However, If you’re a n00b in this pie-making-world, pay close attention to this particular step; it could either make you or break you ;) First, you need a plastic wrap. When it comes to making any dish that deals with pie crust as a base, this plastic wrap is your momma, your girlfriend/boyfriend, or your dog/cat(for you animal lovers); bottom line is, that it is your best friend.  Hold on to it tightly as if your whole meaningless life depends on it. If you don’t have any plastic wrap with you, then you’ll be skipping the rest of the steps because you ain’t gonna make it anyway! 

The recipe of the pie crust that is mentioned above is sufficient to cover an 8 inch pie pan. However, this isn’t mandatory. When it comes to making this Pot Pie recipe, I normally use a small casserole container.  Whatever container you decide to use, make sure that the pie crust dough you roll out is slightly larger than the container you will be using. 

Roll out the plastic wrap as large as the size of the pie crust dough you’re planning to make. Sprinkle a generous amount of flour on its surface. Put your dough(that is still in the form of disk) on the middle of the plastic wrap. Sprinkle more flour on the dough (generously!). And cover it with another plastic wrap, the same size with the bottom one. Start putting your pin in the middle of the dough and roll to every direction. Make sure that it is in the correct thickness (your own preference; the thicker the better though) and also make sure that it will cover your pie container properly. After you got the right size, peel out the top plastic wrap, lift the bottom wrap that holds the rolled-out dough, flip it, and bring it carefully over your container. Peel out the remaining wrap. Trim out the excess dough around the edges, and poke some small holes using a fork. This will prevent the dough from ballooning when it is baked in the oven.

Voila! Congratulations you have successfully accomplished the trickiest step of pie-making. You may treat yourself a piece of chocolate ;)

Next is to pre-bake the dough at 220 C for 10 minutes. When it reaches minute sixth, take out the dough and give it some egg wash (beat 1 egg) with a cooking brush. This will prevent the pie crust to turn soggy when the filling is poured. Put it back in the oven for the remaining 4 minutes. Let it chill to room temperature.

Filling

Ingredients:

1 large onion

3-4 large Potatoes

2 large Carrots

Basically, any vegetable you love. But I found out that potatoes and carrots work out so well in this type of dish; therefore, these two ingredients are mandatory! This is what makes this type of dish my favorite because you really can get your creativity going. You can add peas, grated corn, broccoli, the choice is yours!

1 packet of chicken or mushroom cream soup

1 cup of shredded cooked chicken or fish

Methods:

Prepare the potatoes, you can either poach it or steam it. Slice the potatoes roundly (don’t cut it into cubes) for about 1 cm thick. I personally prefer to steam it until it starts to tender. Don’t overcook it, or else it will become too mushy when it is baked later on. 

Heat up some butter/margarine in the pan and pour a bit of oil so the butter/margarine won’t burn. Chop up the onions and also the carrots (the carrots into dices) and sauté together in the pan until the carrots start to tender. This is also the step to process the other vegetables of your preference(peas, broccoli, corn,etc). Cook 'em all in!

Add the shredded cooked chicken or fish. 

In another sauce pan, bring the chicken/mushroom cream soup to a boil. However, if you want to make the filling completely from scratch, you don’t have to use the cream soup. You can make a roux (butter, flour) and add milk until your sauce thickens to the right consistency. Don’t forget to add seasonings. 

Mix the soup and the cooked vegetables.  Let the filling chill for a bit.

Next step is to assemble the potato slices in the bottom of the pre-baked pie crust. Then, pour out the filling. 

If you want your pot pie recipe to have a double pie crust (it's optional), all you have to do is double the pie crust recipe above. Roll out another dough and use it to cover the top of your pot pie container that has already been filled with pie crust and filling. Poke some holes on top of it and give a splash of egg wash.

Bake the pot pie in the oven at 190 degree C for 45-55 minutes. 

There you have it, your heavenly Badass Pot Pie is ready to be savored!