Grand Mere is a decadent French fricassee stew. I decided to re-invent this recipe and put it in a chicken pot pie. This is something you want to serve to only the very special people in your life as it is extremely decadent and memorable.
Ingredients
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 teaspoon olive oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 tablespoons olive oil
¼ cup white wine
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ½ cup pearl onions, peeled and trimmed
3 shallots, peeled and trimmed
1 clove of garlic, minced
3 sprigs of thyme
4 small Yukon golden potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces, about 1 ½ cups
3 celery stalks, cut into 1 inch slices
4 thick cut slices apple wood smoked bacon, cut into short thin strips
12 ounces brown mushrooms, quartered
1 cup frozen peas
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch sliced
2 frozen pie dough, store bought, thawed out
3 cups unsalted chicken stock
½ cup half and half cream
1 tablespoon corn starch/1 tablespoon cold water, mixed together to form a slurry
Kosher salt and pepper
Directions
To roast the unpeeled cloves of garlic, heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place the cloves in a piece of aluminum foil or a garlic roaster, drizzle with olive oil and roast until tender, about 20 minutes. Take out of the oven, squeeze the garlic out of the clove into a small bowl and set aside.
Heat a Dutch oven to medium heat. Add the olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Add chicken to the pan and cook until well browned on both sides, about 8 minutes. You want a nice deep golden color. Transfer the chicken to a plate, keep warm and set aside.
Deglaze with the white wine. Add 1 tablespoon butter to the pan and add the onions, shallots, 1 clove of minced garlic and thyme and cook until the vegetables start to take on a little color, about 3 minutes. Add the potatoes, celery, carrots and bacon, thyme sprigs and take the lid off and cook 1 to 2 minutes. Cover the Dutch oven and cook another 10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so. Add the mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add the peas and cook for 2 minutes to heat up. Add the chicken back to the pan and take the pan off the heat. Remove the thyme sprigs.
Divide the chicken/vegetable mixture between 4 individual “soup bowls”. (I used my French onion bowls).
Meanwhile, in the same Dutch oven, pour the chicken stock back into the pan, add the roasted garlic and bring to a boil over medium heat, scraping up the bits of vegetable and chicken that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan. Cook the stock at a boil until it is reduced by half. Add the corn starch slurry and cook on high for about 3 minutes or until the sauce is thick. Remove the pan from the heat, swirl in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and mix in the half and half cream. Divide the sauce between the 4 bowls of chicken/vegetable mixture.
Cut 4 circles in the pie dough big enough to cover the 4 dishes you are using for the pot pie, making sure to overlap by 1 inch all the way around. Put the dough circles on top of the pot pies and crimp the edges. Use any extra dough to make decorative leaves and put on top of the dough.
Bake at 425 degrees F for about 12 minutes or until the pie dough is lightly golden and cooked through. This is a decadent and rich pot pie so you do not need large bowls for this. I kept the sauce at a minimum so you can taste the freshness of the individual ingredients.
Makes 4 individual pot pies
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