Baking Friday - Pie # 9

Uncle Sam Day lands in Chicken Month!

Today is Uncle Sam Day!  And September is Chicken Month!

Now the Uncle Sam Day, I can understand.  As the story goes, a man by the name of Sam Wilson, a meat packer from Troy, New York, supplied rations to the soldiers in the War of 1812.  Barrels of meat that the soldiers received were stamped "U.S". Soldiers jokingly referred to him as "Uncle Sam".  In 1813 the first image of "Uncle Sam" appeared.  And this image continued to evolve into the image we all know and recognize today as "Uncle Sam."  In 1961, the Congress issued a resolution recognizing "Uncle Sam" Wilson and authorizing a monument in his hometown.  Uncle Sam Day became official in 1989, when a joint resolution of Congress designated September 13 "Uncle Sam Day" as Sam Wilson was born on September 13, 1776.

Fun story, huh?

Chicken month, however, does not have so fun a story.  It has its own website, but I couldn't find a fun story.

BUT!  Have no fear!  I can still celebrate Uncle Sam Day in National Chicken Month with you guessed it!  Chicken Pot Pie!  Woo-hoo!!  I even added a good, old-fashioned "U.S." to the top by golly!

We also celebrated with mini Chicken Pot Pies.

I was told that the mini-pies were a tad bit sweeter than the larger pie (though we have no idea why) and a bit dry - which means that I needed more broth when I put those together - see a later photo, and you'll see what the taste tester meant.

But this same taste tester said that the "big one kicks Marie Callender's butt!"  Others said that this was the best chicken pot pie that they had ever had.  Could I ask for more generous and gracious taste testers?  I don't think so!  Another taste tester suggested that if I put eggs, sausage, ham and/or bacon in the little ones I would have the new breakfast craze!  I will have to get right on that!

Here's how I made 'em.  I used this pie crust that I sorta made up myself recently and have tried a few times over.  It uses just a wee bit o' baking powder - the tiniest amount - but I find it a bit easier to put together and work with than regular pie crust.  I'm still experimenting with it, and may very well do a few changes to it or scrap the idea altogether, but here it is nonetheless.  For the pie crust purest, it is not, but for the rest of us?  Well, see what you think.  The pics you see are for a double recipe, but I'm listing ingredients for a standard, double crust recipe.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 t. salt
1 T. sugar
1/4 t. baking powder
4 T. cold butter, cut in pats
4 T. cold shortening, cut in pats
1 t. vinegar
7 T. ice water

I add the dry ingredients to the food processor bowl and pulse for a few seconds to combine.  Then I put the butter and shortening in a circle over the dry ingredients and pulse for about 7 - 12 times until the butter and shortening are cut in fairly evenly.  Finally then I add the vinegar and water and pulse another 7 - 12 times until the dough just starts to come together before I dump it out onto a sheet of waxed paper.

Now, there is one other thing that I happened to have added to the dough I used for these chicken pot pies.  When we were at the Soulard Spice Shop last weekend, I picked up something that they called Garlic Romano powder.  So I tossed in a teaspoon of that with the dry ingredients.  It wasn't too much so I could have added up to a tablespoon, but since this was my first time playing with the powder, I erred on the side of too little rather than too much.

I used my hands and the waxed paper to bring all of the dough bits together and form into one flat disk.  Then I cut that disk into two pieces, one just slightly larger than the other and formed each half into a disc before wrapping and setting in the fridge overnight.

Now I was ready to turn to my chicken pot pie filling!  I began with 4 chicken thighs.  Now I know, a lot of people are breast folks, but I am firmly a thigh girl myself.  If dark meat is against your religion or chicken bones bother you, then using boneless breasts is, of course, ok.  Although you'd like the end product better if you used thighs, I'm sure!  Ha!

Oh, and keep in mind that this made enough filling for 2 full pies or 1 full pie and 12 mini pies.  That is not an altogether bad thing.  While you are cooking, you can make one to eat and one to freeze!

I simply seasoned these little thighs up on both sides with salt and pepper, browned them and then slipped them into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes to finish cooking.

Once they were cool, I took the meat off the bones and chopped it all up.  Dark meat.  Yum!

For the filling, I used these ingredients - again remembering that this made enough for 2 pies:

2 T. olive oil
3/4 cup of diced onion
3 cloves garlic (or more, if you're into that sort of thing!)
5 carrots, peeled and diced
2 T. flour
2 cups of chicken broth
3/4 cup of peas
Fresh herbs (parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme) Extra points if you just sang those four herbs!
Dash of Worcestershire Sauce
1 envelope of Swanson Flavor Boost (Chicken)
1/2 cup half-n-half
Salt & pepper to taste

I began by going out to my herb garden and cutting parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme.  And then cut each one up along with dicing the garlic.

I sauteed the onion, garlic and carrots in the olive oil until the onions were soft and the carrots were just beginning to get a bit of color on the edges.

Then I sprinkled in the flour and cooked for about a minute to remove any raw flour taste.

I added the chicken broth, and the Swanson flavor boost packet and brought it to a boil to thicken before adding the peas...

...and finally the half-n-half, Worcestershire Sauce, herbs and seasonings.

You can be pretty generous with Parsley, Sage and Thyme, but be careful with Rosemary!  As one taste tester put it, she can be quite the vixen when invited to a party - always wants to be center of attention.  If you invite Mr. Potato Head to the party, too, Rosemary will pair up with him quite nicely and usually leave everyone else alone, but alas, I didn't invite Mr. Potato Head, so I tried to be careful with Rosemary.  I still may have used a heavier hand than I should....vixens can be like that....hard to control...

I added the chicken, cooled it off, and let is macerate in the fridge overnight.  The next morning, I got out the larger half of pie crust and started rolling.  And then I notice my muffin pan!  What if I made little individual ones?  Of course!  And had I thought of this the night before, I would've made more of the crust and only done individual ones...but then I would have had to cut that many more "U's" and "S's" and that could have just gotten totally out of hand!

So I cut circles of dough....

...and laid them in the muffin tins.

Then I scooped about 1 - 2 T. of the filling in each one - and this is where I should have added about 1 more teaspoon of broth to each one to keep them from being dry.  So don't be like me...yours will look much juicier!

Then I cut smaller circles of crust and laid one on the top of each muffin tin and sealed them gently.

For a final touch, I mixed together some Alderwood Smoked Sea Salt...also from the Soulard Spice Shop as you can see...

....with regular sea salt.

And after brushing each mini-pie with an egg wash (beaten up egg with 1 T. of water added), I sprinkled on a few grains of this sea salt mixture.

And these guys were ready to slide into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes or until done!

Of course, then I had to sprinkle on just a bit of some grated cheese.  Cause...cheese.

While those were baking, I turned my attention to the big pie!  Rolling the dough scraps and then laying in the pie plate...

before adding the rest of the filling and then covering with the top crust.  But I can't forget Uncle Sam can I?  Of course not!

So I rolled a little scrap out flat and got out my little letter cookie cutters that Santa brought me last year!  I love these cute little things!

I cut a couple of each letter, just in case I needed backups, and turned our Chicken Pot Pie into an Uncle Sam Chicken Pot Pie!  Salute!

Yep, I used the egg wash and sea salt sprinkle on here, too.  Cause...sea salt.

This one also baked at 400 degrees, but took a bit longer before it was golden brown and delicious!

This time I added the cheese the last 5 minutes of baking.  Cause...cheese.  Browned cheese.

And we were ready to serve and celebrate!

The big pie served up nicely after resting for the 15 - 20 minute ride to work and setup.  It wasn't too runny at all.

So there you have it!  A savory, pie-licious way to celebrate Uncle Sam Day and Chicken Month!  I hope you've enjoyed reading, and thank you for stopping by!  Always appreciated!