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………

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