Green Chile Chicken Pot Pie

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil over medium, medium high heat in a heavy enameled dutch oven (Le Creuset ftw). Season four boneless/skinless chicken breasts, then sear in the pot, about five minutes per side, then transfer to a baking sheet and roast in the oven at 350 for fifteen minutes. While that's cooking, add another tablespoon of olive oil, and add a diced onion to the pot, reducing heat to medium low. Add a pinch of salt to help draw out the moisture from the onions, and scrape all the tasty chicken bits from the bottom of the pot, it should come fairly clean. Once the onions are clear, add a few cloves of minced garlic, and let that cook for around five minutes. Remove the onions, and add another tablespoon of olive oil. Add two tablespoons of all-purpose flour, and whisk to aborb the oil, adding more oil as needed until you've got a nice roux. Toast on medium low heat for around 20 minutes, we don't need it too dark for this. Once you're happy with it, add chicken stock (less than 32 oz) slowly until the desired thickness is reached, maybe a bit looser as it will thicken with further cooking. Bring to a simmer. Add a cup of milk, and a cup of whole kernel corn and a cup of diced carrots and peas, we just used frozen. Add back in the onions and garlic, take the chicken and dice it into roughly one inch cubes, and add it back in. Add about a half cup of good roasted green chilies that have had the end cap and seeds removed and then been diced. Let simmer for around 15 minutes, stirring frequently. At this point, add your pie shell. Just lay it on top of the bubbling goodness. I used a pie dough recipe from America's Test Kitchen, which turned out phenomenal. Use a sharp knife to cut a few slits to let the bubbles release steam, and place into a 375 degree oven on the middle shelf. Cook for 20 minutes, then turn on the broiler and watch the crust till it is golden brown and delicious. Remove, let cool a bit, serve and enjoy.

This was the first time I've made a recipe from scratch, not counting stealing someone else's pie dough recipie. Although my skills in the kitchen improve, I'm by no means ready to tackle pastry without a guiding hand. How'd it turn out? It was really, really good. But there were plenty of ways we could have improved it. With the crust just floating on top of the stew, it shrunk from the edges a bit. Next time, I'll transfer the stew to an oven safe cassarole dish, and then place the crust over that, allowing it to adhere to the side and hopefully avoiding the shrinking a bit. It was also crying out for potatoes, I wish I had thought to include some. And I thought the green chile, although present, wasn't enough. It was a really good chicken pot pie, with a hint of green chile. My other two tasters thought it was plenty hot though, so your mileage may vary.