Vege-Chicken Pot Pies

Homemade Vege-Chicken Pot Pie

I'm kind of a fan of those little pot pies, so I decided to see if I could figure out how to make a vegetarian version. Turns out I could and they are pretty tasty if I do say so myself. The ingredients are pretty simple and prep isn't bad either. You'll just need a lot of large muffin pans.  Here's how it works:

Ingredients:

Pie Crust
    1 cup                                All-purpose white flour
    1/2  tsp                             Salt
    1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp           Shortening
    2 to 3 tablespoons            Cold water
    1 can                                Canola Spray

Filling
    1/8 cup                            White flour
    2 tbsp                               Oil
    1/4 cup                             Milk
    2 tbsp                               McKay's Chicken Seasoning
    1 pkg                                Frozen Mixed Vegetables
    1 tbsp                               Cajun or New Orleans Style seasoning
    1 can (diced)                    Loma Linda Chik'n Chunks, Loma Linda
                                             Fried Chik'n, Worthington Diced Chik,
                                             Worthington FriChik


Directions: 

1. Make up the pie crust. I use my trusty Kitchen-Aid to cut together the ingredients. Cut it all together, adding the water last till it's forms little balls somewhere between b-b's and small marbles. Then press it all together into a dough ball, then roll it our thin to make the pie crusts.I made a double batch. You might even have to triple it.
2. In a large skillet add oil and heat on medium.  Once it's hot, sprinkle in a couple of spoons of flour and stir it in. Add a little flour at a time until it begins to thicken. Then slowly add milk and seasoning and then put in water as the mixture thickens. 
3. Pour mixed vegetables and diced canned vege-chicken into the sauce mixture. Heat until it bubbles and everything is thoroughly cooked. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Preheat oven to 375º.
5.  Spray the muffin pans with canola oil. 
6.  Find a glass about as big around as the bottom of the muffin compartments. Cut little disks from the pie dough and place them in the bottom of each muffin compartment. Then cut strips as wide as the depth of the muffin compartments and wrapped them around the inside of the compartment.  Press the dough together at the bottom edge to make a little dough cup.
7. Fill each cup with chicken and vegetable filling. 
8. Find a larger glass or biscuit cutter that's larger than top of the muffin compartment.  Cut pie dough into disks and lay them atop the muffin compartments.  Pinch the edges of the sides together with the top to make a mini-pie.  With a very sharp knife, cut 3 small slits in the pie covers to vent as the pies bake. 
9. Bake on a baking sheet until crust begins to brown around the edges. 

Serving Suggestion:

Hot from the oven after I swiped two of them....

I serve them in a bowl as the insides can be a bit juicy. It's kind of difficult to get them out of the muffin tins intact, but as you can see in the picture at the top, it can be done. With the mixed veges it makes a pretty complete meal all by itself. If you plan to take pictures for your foody website, have your camera handy when you pull it out of the oven or by the time you get back from fishing your trusty digital out of your camera bag, you may have a rather incomplete picture. This time, I'm afraid it was me that raided the pot pies. I'm sorry but I was very hungry. Anyway, you get the idea of what they looked like. The spray oil keeps them relatively loose in the tins. I slipped a table knife around the edges and the lifted them out with two tablespoons. The last two (which came out intact and one of which is pictured above), I removed by placing a plate upside down over the tin, holding the tin and plate together and then flipping them over so they came out upside down onto the plate. I gingerly turned the pies over with a spatula and took a picture of one for evidence for the blog (see above).

You could easily make up a bunch of these for a potluck and take them arranged nicely on a plate. I'd probably cook them in cupcake papers, though, just to make sure they hold together.

© 2016 - Tom King
(photos by me)