Friday, January 23, 2015

A Savory “Chicken Pot Pie” To Celebrate “National Pie Day!”


We don't really need many reasons to eat pie. We're happy to do it all day, every day. But, that doesn't mean that we'll turn down a legitimate pie-eating reason if it's handed to us, especially when it involves comfort food like a tasty “Chicken Pot Pie.” Are you hungry yet? Pie lovers across the country get your forks and spoons ready. Today is “National Pie Day!”

 
One of the fondest memories for many of us is that smell of baking pies in the oven. To be able to walk in the house and find our mother baking was a sight to see. The smell of the baked fruit or a savory pie permeated all through the house. To see the kitchen table filled with all the pie making paraphernalia was so exciting it just made your mouth water. Pies are one of the most inviting comfort foods that there are and making, baking, or eating it can lift our spirits and bring warmth to our every beings. Soothing, soul-satisfying comfort foods can bring back special memories of meaningful moments of the past. Mashed potatoes, hot soup, hearty stews, warm chocolate chip cookies, and fresh baked pies are all foods many of us associate with comfort. They may be simple foods but they evoke fond memories, and bring joy as well as comfort to our everyday lives.
 
Many years ago the pies of the Romans, especially at banquets in the days of the empire, were often elaborate creations. In England meat and fish pies had become common by the 14th century.  Fruit pies, often called tarts, were common by the 16th century. The mince pie was an important feature of the Christmas festivities. The mincemeat filling was a finely chopped, cooked mixture, including raisins, currants, apples, suet, sugar, spice, and often meat, brandy or cider, candied peel, and other ingredients. The English settlers in North America retained their taste for pie and adapted it to their new conditions, creating the pumpkin and the cranberry pies. Pie has remained a popular dessert in the United States. In Italy, pie, or pizza, consists, in its most basic form, of a spread of dough covered with tomatoes and mozzarella cheese and baked in an oven. I happened to be watching the TV show called “The Chew” and I learned that a hand pie is another way to say what we know today as a “Calzone” and turnovers.

A pie is a baked food, with a baked shell usually made of pastry dough that covers or completely contains a filling of fruit, meat, fish, vegetables, cheeses, creams, chocolate, custards, nuts, or other sweet or savory ingredients. Pies can be either "filled", where a dish is covered by pastry and the filling is placed on top of that, "top-crust," where the filling is placed in a dish and covered with a pastry/potato mash top before baking, or "two-crust," with the filling completely enclosed in the pastry shell. Some pies have only a bottom crust, generally if they have a sweet filling that does not require cooking. These bottom-crust-only pies may be known as tarts or tartlets. An example of a bottom-crust-only pie that is savory rather than sweet is a quiche. Blind-baking is used to develop a crust's crispiness, and keep it from becoming soggy under the burden of a very liquid filling. If the crust of the pie requires much more cooking than the chosen filling, it may also be blind-baked before the filling is added and then only briefly cooked or refrigerated. Pie fillings range in size from tiny bite-size party pies or small tartlets, to single-serve pies and larger pies baked in a dish and eaten by the slice. The type of pastry used depends on the filling. It may be either a butter-rich flaky or puff pastry, a sturdy short crust pastry. Occasionally the term pie is used to refer to otherwise unrelated confections containing a sweet or savory filling, such as Eskimo pie or moon pie.

Several examples of a “savory pie” would be Bacon and egg pie, Chicken and mushroom pie, Corned beef pie, Cottage pie, Meat and potato pie, Pizza pie, Pork pie, Pot pie, Potato pie, Quiche, Scotch pie, Shepherds' pie, (mashed potato crust) Steak pie, and too many more to mention.

Then we have various examples of “sweet dessert pies.” Some of these pies are pies in name only, such as the Boston cream pie, which is a cake. Many fruit and berry pies are very similar, varying only the fruit used in filling like the Apple pie, Dutch apple pie, Blackberry pie, Blueberry pie, Cherry pie, Key lime pie, Lemon meringue pie, Mince pie, Mock apple pie, Peach pie, Pecan pie, Strawberry pie, Banana cream pie, Buttermilk pie, Cheesecake pie, Chess pie, Chocolate pie, Cream pie, Custard pie, Pumpkin pie, Pumpkin Cheesecake pie, Rhubarb pie,  Strawberry-rhubarb pie, Shoofly pie - a pie filled with molasses, and the Sweet Potato Pie.


I don’t know about you but I am ravenous now with all that talking about pies. So let’s devour my recipe this week which is one that just makes your mouth water and releases all your tensions. This dish comforts you with each fork or spoon full you take and fills your stomach with my savory pie called “Chicken Pot Pie.” Mangia! Enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:
1 (15 ounce) package refrigerated pie crust
1 (10.5 ounce) can Campbell's Chicken Gravy
3 cups cooked cut-up mixed vegetables (diced carrots, peas, cubed potatoes, corn, and mushrooms)   
2 (4.5 ounce) cans Premium Chunk Chicken Breast in Water, drained

or 1 1/2 cups of diced fresh cooked chicken breast

Directions:
Let the pie crusts stand at room temperature for 15 minutes or until they're easy to handle. Place 1 pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate. Stir the gravy, vegetables and chicken in a medium bowl. Spoon the chicken mixture into the pie plate. Place the remaining pie crust over the filling. Press the edges to seal. Cut several slits in the top crust. Bake at 400°F for 45 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Let stand for about 5 minutes and then eat your pie till you feel comforted!


Till Next Time………

Copyright © 2015 “Family Plus Food Equals Love” All Rights Reserved

12 comments:

  1. Love all the history behind pies and I have to say, given that I have so many sweet "teeth" I truly am a savory pie lover! Don't get me wrong, I adore sweet pies, but one of my favorite things to make are savory pies for dinner, like chicken pot pie, steak pie and as you called them, hand pies like Cornish Pasties. They are so delicious and really great for colder weather! Hope you are keeping warm, Dottie! (Btw, I talked about you in my latest blog post! I hope you don't mind!) :)

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    1. Ciao Christina,
      Thanks for your lovely comment. I agree with you, I also have many "sweet teeth" but I love sweet and savory. Either one is fine with me. I think the savory pies are so good on cold winter days. It just seems to me to hit the spot and make you feel comfy. Sweet pies I always associate with the spring and summer. I do not know why, maybe because you can get the fresh berries in season. Trying to keep warm, no snow here yet but now they are saying maybe this weekend. We will see. Yes, Christina I glanced at your blog and I did see my name, no problem..I have been so busy that I didn't get a chance to really read it all and of course make a comment. I promise I will head over there now. Thanks for the shout out. Enjoy the weekend..
      Dottie :)

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  2. Good morning Dottie ,
    This post is awesome , we love chicken pot pies ... well any type of pie . They are like a good gumbo hits the spot in weather like this .
    I have to admit , I bake pot pies year round , no season is safe they all go , depends on how busy and my taste buds are .
    I use Campbell's gravy with mushrooms .
    There are so much to learn about the food we eat and enjoy , they all have a history .
    Thanks for sharing , Stay warm and safe and have a great weekend . ~Nee~ :)

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    1. Good afternoon Nee,
      Thanks for coming over to visit and your comment. So happy that you really enjoyed reading this post. Yes, any pies are yummy but for a cold winters day this is a fabulous dish. Warm, cozy, and comforting. I also love pies I think more than cakes...and I try to bake them throughout the years. The summer is great for fruit pies. You also have a wonderful weekend, be safe and keep warm too!
      Dottie :)

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  3. Oh who does not like pies?! I have learned how to make them in England. They are so delicious. My favourite is chicken and leek pie but I love your pot pie here with lots of delicious vegetables.
    I hope you are keeping warm, here is cold now but we have no snow yet. This is the perfect time to enjoy a good homemade pie. Ciao amica mia. Un abbraccio forte! xxx

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    1. Hi Alida,
      Thanks for your comment. I agree dear friend, who doesn't love pies? Chicken and leek must be amazing, never had that type of pie but sounds like I would love it. Sweet pies are good too especially in the summer with all the seasonal fruit and berries. I am trying to stay warm, but it is cold...they keep saying everyday that we are getting snow, but it never happens. Maybe this weekend. Tenere al caldo e abbracci indietro caro amico!
      Dottie :)

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  4. Hi Pie Day, Dottie!!!
    Savory pies just don't get enough "press" if you ask me. One of my favorites is Potato and Onion Pie with Bacon! Of course Chicken Pot Pie is right up there. Yours looks yummy!

    Thanks for sharing, Dottie and thanks for the back story too:) You've been pinned, lol...

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    1. Hi Louise,
      Happy Pie Day to you too! Thanks for your visit..I agree the savory pies do not get enough press. Your favorite sounds mouthwatering. Potato, Onion, and Bacon pie. Tell me who wouldn't love that? Thanks for pinning, and again for the re-tweet of the blog post. Still have to learn about pinning...I am determined this year to learn that as well as fix up my blog and make it better. Thanks, dear friend for your comment, Have a wonderful weekend...say hi to Marion..
      Dottie :)

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    2. Hi Dottie:)
      Thank you once again for leaving the wonderful comments over at my blog. If you need any pointers with Pinterest, I do hope you know you can ask me. I'm getting to be quite the pinner, lol...Your blog is delicious just the way it is:) The only thing I would ask, and I've aksked it before, is to just make your posting pictures a little bit bigger. It seems pictures on Pinterest like to be big, lol...

      Thanks again, Dottie...enjoy your Sunday and stay warm. I hear there's a storm a brewing:)

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    3. Good evening Louise,
      Thanks for your comment! I may just take you up on your offer at some point if I need help on Pinterest. I can see you have become a pro at pinning. I am happy with my blog but I thought I should learn this as everyone is pinning. As far as the photos go being bigger I have done that with some of the photos, but not all. I am so used to doing things smaller, so I will try to get them bigger. Thanks for your positive support. I am all ready for this blizzard that the news is speaking about. I have candles, flashlights, cell phone charged, extra water, etc already in case we loose power. I hope that you and Marion will not get hit too hard as well. Be safe, warm, and enjoy the weather. Thanks for stopping over for a visit.
      Dottie :)

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  5. Dear Dottie, My mother loved!!! to bake pies. We had fruit trees in the backyard and peach, apple and apricot were often baking in the oven.
    At Christmas there were all the traditional pies being readied for the celebration.
    One of the best part were the cookies my mom made from the leftover dough.
    I do love a good chicken pot pie. This certainly looks good.
    Stay safe and warm. xoxo Catherine

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    1. Dear Catherine,
      Thanks for your lovely comment...I am thrilled I can bring you back to your memory of your mom baking pies. I am sure she was an awesome baker. My forte is baking, so I understand. You were lucky that you had the fruit trees in the backyard. I have done that dear friend, make cookies from the leftover pie dough. I agree Chicken Pot Pies are good, sometimes I would make them in little pie tins (individual) and other times I would make a reg size pie. Either way they are wonderful, watching the gravy ooze down the side of the pie crust when you broke it with a fork. Thanks for stopping over and yes, you be safe as well..keep warm..more snow on the way..Blessings to your family...
      Dottie :)

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