Chicken Pot Pie

I have made this pot pie several times and it is really good.

The original recipe is here: http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Delicious-Chicken-Pot-Pie-10744

I use milk instead of half and half.

This made about 3 quarts because I added more vegetables. It barely fed 6 adults (3m/3f). It would have fed 4 more comfortably.

I used:

3 large chicken breasts

1 large onion

4 stalks celery

5 med carrots

4 med potatoes

fresh thyme

And then did what the recipe said. You could decrease the butter to make it lower fat. I usually use just a couple tablespoons of butter, and mostly milk instead of half and half. I do like to put in a bit of half and half or cream though, for the richness.

The crust I use for this comes from a comment by BothFex:

"Sift together 1 C. flour and 1 t. salt. Cut in 1/4 lb. cold butter or marg. till resembles coarse crumbs. Whisk together 1 egg yolk and 2 T. ice water add to flour mixture and mix till it just comes together. Let rest in fridge for 20 minutes then roll out and top pie."

I don't always let it rest, but it comes out flaky and good.

Update:

I always have the problem of the filling spilling out on top of the crust. When this happens, the crust is soggy and nasty. The solution I believe is to use pie dishes and fill them completely. Then put on a top crust only, and there is the rim for the crust to wrap around. When I make a huge pot pie in a 4 or 5 qt pot, the crust often falls too low and gets soggy. It has happened enough times that I need a different method. Alternatively, I could use a 2 or 3 quart glass casserole dish and fill it completely. Then put crust on top so that the edges seal. Sealing the edges is important so liquid can't get on top of the crust. Any leftover filling can be baked separately without crust. The most important things are to completely fill whatever container you use and then make sure the crust is large enough to extend beyond the edges and be sealed.

Another update:

I made this again but did it according to the measurements specified in the original recipe (except used less butter and milk instead of half and half). I used whole wheat flour in the pie, and half wheat half white in the crust recipe. It turned out really well. It was a touch too runny, so maybe a bit more flour would be good for thickening next time. This fit pretty well into a 2 quart glass dish, but was just shy of making it. The crust didn't drown this time, I think rolling it out large enough so it goes over the rim of the dish is key.

Another update- 5/1/2013:
Made again as in the last time, using original recipe in 2 qt glass dish, worked perfectly. Roll out dough large enough to go over the rim and fold under like a top crust on a regular pie. This time I used all white flour. The sauce was not too runny once it had time to cool slightly. I would recommend allowing 20-30 minutes of cooling time on the counter to avoid the initial runny sauce, it will still be really hot. It was a while ago that I made it last time though, and it might just be that white flour does better at thickening than whole wheat flour.