Individual Chicken Pot Pies

Talk to me about warm, hearty comfort food any day! Who doesn't love a good, savory pie hot out of the oven? This is a recipe my mother and I adapted from a Food Network recipe by The Neely's (see recipe source below). We replaced a few of the ingredients and switched things up a bit. Instead of onions we used leeks, we replaced pearl onions with mushrooms, rotisserie chicken with home made chicken breast seasoned with thyme and rosemary, and standard pie dough was replaced with airy, crispy puff pastry. (Personally I even think some corn along with the peas would be a nice touch).

A delicious, hearty recipe to keep you warm on those chilly nights!

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1/2 tsp. dried crushed rosemary

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

Salt and, ground black pepper for seasoning

Olive oil (or olive oil cooking spray)

4 cups chicken broth
1 bouillon cube
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 leeks, washed, halved and sliced into half-moons
2 large carrots cut in 1/2-inch rounds
1 rib celery, sliced

6 oz sliced cremini mushrooms
3 tablespoons chopped chives
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons dry sherry
1 (9-ounce) box frozen peas
1 package of Pepperidge Farm®  Puff Pastry Sheets, thawed

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.

To make the chicken:

Coat a baking dish with olive oil cooking spray (or lightly grease with olive oil). Season both sides of chicken breasts with rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Place in baking dish and bake in oven for 30-35 minutes (or until no longer pink). Allow chicken to cool slightly and then cut into 1/2" cubes. Set aside.

Reduce oven temp to 375 degrees F.

In a large saucepan heat chicken broth and bouillon cube over medium heat until hot.

In a Dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add leeks, carrots, celery, mushrooms, chives and garlic, and sauté until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Add the flour and stir together until it becomes pasty and lump-free, about 2 minutes. Stir in the hot broth, heavy cream, sherry, chicken and peas. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.

With a ladle, fill ovenproof ramekins or bowls with the filling. Place on baking sheet.

Pastry cutting method for 4 servings: Unfold the thawed pastry sheets. (Tip: unfolding and cutting them is easier if they are thawed but still slightly frozen). Lay the unfolded pastry sheets out on a cutting board and cut each of the two pieces diagonally from one corner to the other to make four large triangles.

Position and fold the pastry triangles over the ramekins accordingly. Bake pastry over filled ramekins in over for 15-20 minutes or until pastry is golden brown. Remove from the oven and serve.

Original Adapted Recipe Source: [link]