This recipe is a pleaser with anyone big or small, the best part is it looks very gourmet and home spun at the end. I took short cuts to bring this recipe together, but you can always go the extra mile by chopping your own veggies and making your own sauce......at least that is what you can tell your friends!
Ingredients:
3-4 chicken breasts *you will only need to prepare the chicken in step 1 if you are doing it from scratch (does not matter what part of the bird you use, whatever you have on hand is fine; store bought rotisserie works well too.)
1/2 cup Yellow onion diced
1/2 cup Carrots diced
1/2 cup Peas
1/2 cup Potato diced to 1/2" cubes
1/2 TBL Poultry Seasoning ( if you don't have this, just put in 1/2 tsp of the following: Rosemary, Thyme, Sage)
1/2 Tsp of Nutmeg
Salt
Black Pepper
Olive Oil
2 TBL Butter
1 can (non-fat, low fat,etc. your choice) Cream of Chicken Soup
1cup Chicken Broth
1Egg beaten with 4 Tbl spoon water-----Egg wash
1 box Puff Pastry ( found in frozen section, usually by pie crusts and desserts at your local grocery store)
Yields about 6 pies
Preheat oven to 425degrees
Prepare 1 Sheet Pan with parchment paper or coat lightly with cooking oil
Defrost Puff Pastry (if taken out of freezer) onto kitchen counter just soft enough to roll out, if too soft place back in fridge to help maintain a good firm texture.
Filling:
1) Take your chicken breasts, salt and pepper one side, set aside. Meanwhile take a large deep skillet, heat and drizzle in a good helping of olive oil until the bottom of pan is well coated. When pan and oil is hot (starts to smoke ever so slightly) put in your chicken breasts seasoned side down. After about a minute or so, turn heat down to medium high, then season the other side of the chicken breasts with salt and pepper ( don't be too heavy handed as salt and pepper will be layered thru out dish). Flip breasts at this point and continue cooking for another 6 minutes or so, then remove breasts and let rest on plate to cool and all the yummy juices return for about 10 minutes.
2) Shred chicken coarsely and set aside.
3) Using same skillet, turn on heat to med-high, add 1Tbl spoon olive oil, and then add the 2 Tbl spoon of butter. Once butter is melted add onions, carrots, and potatoes, saute until vegetables are tender, about 10 minutes, salt and pepper lightly. Add peas, stir for a minute or so, then turn down heat to medium, pour chicken stock in, stir-scrape vigorously to de-glaze pan, cover with a lid for a couple minutes to cook down chicken stock. Remove lid add 1 can of creamed chicken soup, stir until heated and combined (at this point, if the consistency is not like a slightly runny gravy, add 1/4 cup of water at a time to gain this consistency).
4) Add, poultry seasoning (or other herbs noted above if you do not have poultry seasoning) and nutmeg, and stir to combine. Finally turn off heat, and add shredded chicken and stir to combine. Set aside.
5) Take the defrosted puff pastry, cut one sheet into three strips using the fold lines as guides. Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface. dust a strip of your puff pastry with a litte flour and rolling pin too, so nothing sticks. Roll out your puff pastry so that it can fit about 1 cup of filling, leaving about a 1" border to fold.
6) Scoop about 1/2 cup of filling and place onto one side of the puff pastry strip, then wet the edges slightly all the way around with a a brush dipped in egg wash. Flip the other side of the puff pastry over the filling, seal, then crimp edges (picture how a calzone looks like).
7) Set on sheet pan lined with parchment paper or sprayed lightly with a cooking oil. Take a pointed knife and cut a small hole in each pie to allow the steam to pass thru, then take the egg wash and brush each pie lightly with it.
8) Place in pre-heated oven at 425 for about 30 minutes or until the puff pastry is puffed and golden brown. (Temperature and time may vary slightly depending on your oven also if pastry has become too soft, I strongly advise to use the tip below for beautiful results.)
****GREAT TIP: for a really CRISP pie, before putting them into the oven place the pies on the sheet pan in the freezer for 20 minutes or so allowing puff pastry to harden, then pull it out and place in oven right away.
Also you can make these in advance, freeze and store them for a month, and just heat them when you like.
Enjoy it!
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