Individual Chicken (Or Turkey) Pot Pies

Every year I get a turkey from work for Thanksgiving. It is actually a really good turkey. The problem is that we usually get it the day before Thanksgiving, and we have already made plans to eat another turkey. So what do I do with my turkey? Well it stays in my freezer until it's almost time to get another one. Then I remember a wonderful holiday called Canadian Thanksgiving. They celebrate Thanksgiving about a month before we do. It is a great excuse to get with my Canadian friends and eat a delicious turkey with all sorts of other great foods. Now what do I do with all my millions of pounds of left over turkey? I make these chicken pot pies, but with turkey! I made them 2 different ways. One involves more crust, and one involves less. You can choose how you want yours.

Individual Chicken (or Turkey) Pot Pies

1 ½ pounds chicken (about three medium-size chicken breasts) cooked and shredded
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 cup potatoes cut into small cubes
1 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion , chopped fine (about 1 cup)
3-4 carrots, peeled and sliced (about 1 cup)
2-3 stalks celery, chopped (about ½ cup)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
½ cup flour
1 cup milk
3/4 cup frozen peas
Pie Crust - about enough for 2 pies

Place chicken broth and potatoes in a large pot. Cook on medium high until potatoes are tender. Time varies depending on how large your potato pieces are. Pour the broth and potatoes through a fine-mesh strainer into a liquid measuring cup and reserve broth. Place potatoes in a large bowl. Add shredded chicken to bowl and set aside. Return the pot to the stove top (no need to wash if you used it to cook the chicken).

Heat the olive oil in the now-empty pot over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, salt and pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until just tender, about 5 minutes. While the vegetables are cooking, shred the chicken into small bite-size pieces. Transfer the cooked vegetables to the bowl with the chicken; set aside.

Over medium heat melt the butter in the empty pot. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Slowly whisk in the reserved chicken broth and milk. Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally until the sauce thickens, about 5 minutes, taking care not to burn the bottom. Add 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Remove from the heat and stir the chicken, vegetables and peas into the sauce.

There are 2 options on how to make your individual pie:

Option # 1 - Less crust option:

Roll out pie crust to desired thickness. Place ramekins on dough and cut out circles to fit ramekins. Scoop filling into each individual ramekin. Place dough circle on top of each filled ramekin. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cool slightly before serving.

Option # 2 - More crust option:

Roll out pie crust to desired thickness. Cut out a large circle, big enough to be able to fit into a jumbo muffin tin(I used a bowl and traced it with my knife). Place one circle into each jumbo muffin spot. Press down gently on each dough circle to get it to take the form of the muffin tin. Scoop approximately 1/3 cup of filling mixture into each spot. Cut out a smaller circle and place it on top of each individual pie. Press slightly with fingers to get edges to seal. Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. To make them easier to remove from muffin tins you could line them with tin foil prior to placing dough in tins. This option you could also freeze and use later. You could bake them prior to freezing, or you could freeze them with dough still raw. Whichever you prefer.

 This recipe made enough for me to do 4 ramekins and 6 jumbo muffin tins with a little bit of filling left over.