Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Have you ever seen a recipe somewhere and immediately knew you just had to make it as soon as possible?

This was one of those for me.

Mostly because I knew Ryan would like it.  

See? Sometimes I make things solely based on my husband's palate... and sometimes... well... I completely ignore them, and serve him pasta loaded with mushrooms and pine nuts. So I guess I'm not completely innocent.You'll know when I've completely sacrificed my own taste buds when I finally share a fish/crab/lobster/shrimp/nastiness recipe on here. Someday that day will come.

Today is not that day.

This recipe was delightfully simple, and yielded dreamy results. The rich and velvety soup accompanied by the baked and seasoned pie dough wedges created the perfect illusion of chicken pot pie. Instead of using both frozen peas and carrots, I settled for frozen peas, but also used freshly peeled/sliced/boiled carrots. The broth was surprisingly thin - and I surprisingly liked it that way. You'd think with a soup like this, the broth would turn into some kind of thick goop, but it stayed wonderfully light in texture along the way. I also didn't have poultry seasoning, so I found a quick throw-together *recipe that uses all the seasonings you probably have in your spice rack (recipe below). Easy enough, right?

Another important tip I'd highly recommend: turn the temperature down on the chicken before you give into your adorable blue-eyed Manchild's plea for you to read, yet again, Tikki-Tikki-Tembo. I caught mine just in time to save it, but OH man would have been staring at a pan of really really dead bird (as opposed to just dead, of course) only a few moments later. It was worth it - I sure love that kid, and short Asian names.

-------

Chicken Pot Pie Soup

Ingredients:
1 disk refrigerated pie dough
freshly ground pepper
1/2 t + a pinch of poultry seasoning
2 T unsalted butter
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breasts, trimmed, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
salt
2 stalks celery, ends cut off, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1/4 C flour
3 C chicken broth
1 C half-and-half
3 medium Yukon gold potatoes, chopped
3 medium carrots, peeled, chopped, boiled for 5 minutes, drained (frozen carrots work too, I guess)
6oz of frozen peas, room temperature

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Unroll the pie dough onto a baking sheet and sprinkle with pepper and pinch of poultry seasoning. Cut into quarters and bake until golden - about 10 minutes.
2. Melt the butter in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add the chicken and 1/2 t salt and cook, undisturbed, 2 minutes, then cook, stirring, 1 more minute. Transfer to a bowl.
3. Add celery, onion, flour, 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/2 t poultry seasoning to the pot and cook, stirring, one minute.
4. Stir in 2 cups water, the broth, half-and-half, and potatoes (scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan from the chicken). Cover and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, 10 minutes.
5. Add the peas and carrots and simmer, about 6 minutes. Return the chicken to the pot and simmer until cooked through, about 1 minute. Taste, add seasonings as needed (I added more salt and pepper). Divide among bowls and top with baked pie crust.

Recipe Source: Food Network Magazine, December 2012 Issue 
Makes 4 Servings 

-------

*Poultry Seasoning

Ingredients:
 2 t ground sage
1 1/2 t ground thyme
1 t ground marjoram
3/4 t ground rosemary
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t black pepper

Method:
1. Combine all ingredients together. Boom. Done.