Optimus Prime Chicken (Soup to) Pot Pie

Do you ever have those meals that leave such an impression on you that you spend, like, literally years trying to recreate it (and then most of the time you come pretty close but it’s never as good)? Well, one of those meals for me was the Chicken Pot Pie at the Great Dane Pub and Brewery in Madison, WI. No matter how hot it was, if we were at the Dane, I was most likely going to get that pot pie. It was amazing!

Of course, it’s been many long years since I lived in Madison, so I’m happy to report that – at long last – I think we might have a winner. The great thing too is that this pot pie recipe uses up the leftovers from my long time favorite recipe for chicken soup, which is delicious but makes way too much for us to get through. It may be that we loved the pot pie because we love the soup… who knows? But this Wisconsin-connected recipe for the Great Dane’s pot pie certainly informed our work!

So I’ll put the entire process, start to finish, here, starting with the soup and then *transforming, a la Optimus Prime* it into pot pie. Then I’ll try to think through some easier hacks if you don’t want to start from scratch below.

Ingredients

For the soup (make at least a day ahead):

• 8 cups (2 quarts) water
• 4-5 medium carrots, peeled and cut into large dice
• 3-4 medium celery stalks, large dice
• 1 medium yellow onion, small dice
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more as needed
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed
• 1/2-3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 (3- to 4-pound) whole chicken, neck and giblets removed from the cavity
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon dried parsley

For the pot pie

• ~2-3 cups cooked, diced chicken, from above
• ~5-6 cups broth+veggies, from above
• 3/4 cup butter
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1.5 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 3/4 cup milk (plus a little extra if needed to achieve desired consistency)
• 1/2 frozen peas (optional)
• ~2 cups cooked, diced potatoes
• ~1.5 cups frozen corn, or 2 ears roasted corn cut off the cob
• 1 tube of crescent dough sheet (or just one tube of crescent rolls)

Directions

Starting with the soup:

1. Place carrots, celery, onion, bay leaf, and water in a large slow cooker (at least 6 quart).
2. Mix salt, pepper, and thyme together. Set aside.
3. Pat chicken dry with paper towels, be sure to remove all giblets and extra stuff. Rub the outside of the chicken with olive oil. Sprinkle salt/pepper/thyme mixture all around, and inside the cavity.
4. Place chicken in slow cooker, cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours.
5. When done, remove chicken, let cool, then remove from bones. Dice the cooked chicken and keep separate from broth/veggies. Reserve ~2-3 cups chicken and ~5-6 cups broth+veggies for pot pie.
6. Serve remaining soup with noodles or rice and enjoy.

Moving to the pot pie:

1. Heat the oven to 375.
2. In a heavy-bottomed pot or dutch oven, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour, and stir/cook until all one color and consistency.
3. Add salt, thyme, pepper, and garlic powder. Gradually add broth+veggies, stirring to keep smooth and not have lumps. Add milk and stir.
4. Add peas and corn. Cook and stir occasionally for 5 minutes.
5. Add chicken and potatoes. Cook and stir occasionally for 5 minutes until combined.
6. Place pot pie filling into 9×13 baking dish. Top with crescent roll dough sheet (may need to be stretched a bit to cover all). If using regular crescent rolls, pinch triangle perforations together.
7. Bake for 25-30 minutes until crescent roll dough is golden brown all over.

Neglected Cherry Tomato Sauce

So as many loyal readers may know, I start out very excited about gardening in May, keep up the tending and watering in early/mid June, and then because we run intense summer programs for teachers in late June/July, I tend to neglect plants once that time rolls around. This year was no exception; the kids were great about watering every day once we set up their deck boxes, but then once they headed out of town while I was in the thick of teaching, the plants pretty much relied on the local rainfall for hydration.

While Sonia’s box focused on strawberries this year, Oscar’s had one cherry tomato plant and some herbs. Once mid July rolled around, his tomato plant was doing great, and I pulled one significant harvest in, assuming the plant would give up the ghost (so to speak) after that, given we weren’t watering it. But, it held on and produced a second significant crop, which I just picked yesterday. There were probably at least 5-6 cups of cherry tomatoes when all was said and done… and there are a number of green ones still there!

A brief internet search yielded this recipe from fork-knife-swoon, and I only added two small modifications below. After dusting off the immersion blender, this very easy sauce was delicious – and on the sweet side!

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Ingredients

~5-6 cups (about 2-3 lbs) cherry tomatoes, cleaned and rinsed (no stems!)

olive oil

1 large yellow onion, diced

1 large carrot, small dice

3-4 cloves fresh garlic, minced

3–4 sprigs, fresh thyme, stems removed; leaves chopped

small handful, fresh basil leaves, chiffonade or chopped

3-4 sprigs, fresh oregano, stems removed, leaves chopped

1-2 tbsp sugar, optional, and to taste

kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees. In a large, rimmed sheet pan, baking dish, or cake pan, place tomatoes and lightly coat/toss with olive oil. Try to spread tomatoes out into one layer. You’ll need something bigger than 9×13, likely – and make sure your pan can hold juices! You probably want one with at least 2″ sides. Roast for about 25-30 minutes, until tomatoes burst open and a bit shriveled.
   
2. In a large dutch oven/pot (at least 6 quart) over medium/medium high heat, add about 2 tbsp olive oil and saute onion and carrot. Sprinkle lightly with salt to extract some liquid. Be careful not to burn. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Add basil, oregano, and thyme. Lower heat to low until tomatoes are done.
   
3. Once tomatoes are finished roasting, carefully transfer them – and any juices in the pan – to the dutch oven with the vegetables/herbs. Stir to deglaze if necessary. If you want a sweeter sauce (the cherry tomatoes are already sweet, so beware!) add a tablespoon or two (at most) of sugar). Add 1/2 tsp kosher salt and 1/4 tsp pepper. Simmer for at least 30 min, up to 1 hour. Stir about 2-3 times over that period.
   
4. Remove from heat and let stand for 10-15 minutes. Use immersion blender or carefully transfer to blender/food processor to blend to uniform consistency. Taste and adjust salt and pepper as needed. Serve over pasta and enjoy!
   
5. Apparently this freezes well. This yields about… 2 quarts. Cheers!