Chicken "Pot Pie" with Biscuit Crumble

Ingredients for filling

*         1.5 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts 

*         3 cups chicken broth 

*         2 tbsp vegetable oil 

*         1 medium onion, chopped fine 

*         3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped into slices 

*         3 small celery ribs, chopped fine 

*         8 oz white mushrooms, washed and sliced 

*         1 tsp tomato paste 

*         4 tbsp butter 

*         1 cup milk 

*         1/2 cup all-purpose flour 

*         2 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice 

*         3 tbsp minced fresh parsley leaves 

*         3/4 cup frozen baby peas

Ingredients for crumble topping 

*         2 cups all-purpose flour 

*         2 tsp baking powder 

*         3/4 tsp salt 

*         1/2 tsp ground black pepper 

*         1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 

*         6 tbsp butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, chilled 

*         1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated 

*         3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450.

2. Bring the chicken and broth to a simmer in a covered Dutch oven over medium heat. Cook until chicken is done, then transfer chicken to a bowl. Pour the broth through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and save.

3. Combine the flour, baking powder, salt, black pepper and cayenne pepper in a large bowl. Sprinkle the butter pieces in and incorporate with your fingers until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Stir in the Parmesan, then add the cream and stir until just combined. Place on a lined, rimmed baking sheet and bake 10-13 minutes until becoming fragrant and browning. Set aside.

4. Heat 1 tbsp oil in the empty Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/4 tsp pepper and stir well. Cook until vegetables are tender, and while they are cooking,  shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces. Transfer cooked vegetables to the bowl with the chicken and  set aside.

5. Heat the remaining oil in the pot and then add mushrooms, cover and cook until mushrooms have released their juices, about 5 minutes. Remove cover and stir in the tomato paste. Cook, stirring until the liquid has evaporated and the mushrooms are browned. Transfer the mushrooms to the bowl with  the chicken and veggies.

6. Heat butter in the pot, add the flour and cook for one minute, stirring. Slowly whisk in the reserved chicken broth and milk. Bring to a simmer, scraping the bottom of the pan to get those browned bits up. Simmer about a minute. Season to taste with salt and pepper, then remove from heat and stir in lemon juice and parsley. Stir in chicken and vegetable mixture and peas into the sauce. 

7. Pour into a greased 13×9 baking dish and sprinkle crumble topping evenly over the top, or pour 1/2 the filling into a greased 8x8 baking dish and save the other half to freeze for a future evening.  Bake until filling is bubbling and topping is well browned, about 12-15 minutes.

 
Notes

If you have leftover chicken, this is a perfect meal to use that.  And to be honest, it is tough to call this a "pot pie".  It is made in casserole dish and there is no pie crust! You can use any combination of chicken meat, or turkey for that matter!  Perhaps mark this and make it after Thanksgiving.  We used only thigh meat and it was delicious.  If you are going to make this into two meals, only make a half batch of the topping.  Then when you pull the other filling half out of the freezer all you will need to do is make the biscuit topping.  A note about the topping. It called for heavy cream, which is probably to make sure it was a light and fluffy texture.  I used the milk we had on hand, and it still turned out great!