In the Kitchen with The Anxious Enthusiast

Fall Recipes: Pot Pie Chicken with Soft Stuffing Dumplings

Recipes for Anxious Chefs #14

In times of trouble, I am comforted to know how to cook. Providing delicious and comforting foods for myself that do not require chewing seemed a hopeless thought at first. Then I remembered: I am from the North. I am a soup samurai and cozy connoisseur.

Try my Pot Pie Chicken with Soft Stuffing Dumplings and melt as I did, whilst shoveling it in as I did. With fare like this, I contemplate why I’ve ever eaten any other way. Chewing. Who needs it? Perhaps my teeth are ancillary after all.

Let’s get in the kitchen.

The Recipe, Serves 4–6

What you need for Pot Pie Chicken with Soft Stuffing Dumplings:

For Roasted Veg

1 cup each of diced Celery, Carrot, Onion, Sweet Potato, & Yukon Gold Potato

Olive Oil

Fresh Thyme, 3 sprigs

S&P

Sherry Vinegar, 1 tablespoon

For the Roux

Salted Butter, 6 tablespoons

Flour, 1/2 cup

Heavy Cream, 4 tablespoons

For Meat Gravy

Chicken Stock or Bone Broth, one whole carton or 4 cups

Salt, 1 teaspoon

One Chicken Bouillon Cube

Ground Pepper, 1/2 teaspoon

Nutmeg, 15 shavings

Dried Savory or Thyme, 1/4 teaspoon

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes, 1/4 teaspoon

3 Bay Leaves

For Pot Pie, Additional Items

Diced Rotisserie Chicken

Frozen peas, 1 cup

One Box of Stovetop Stuffing Mix, also 1 1/2 cups of water & 1/2 stick of salted butter

One Enameled Cast Iron Pan with Lid: mine is by Lodge. It has a chip or two but it is a great size, maybe 10–12 inches in diameter and 2 inches deep. I use it often for roasting, one pan roast chicken dinners, and soups and sauces. Its size, warmth, and heft make it a lovely vessel for pot pie chicken.

Roux Spoon or Hearty Silicon Spatula: I am fortunate enough to have come across a wooden roux spoon on our first trip to New Orleans, Louisiana. Another spatula will do. What you are looking for is a long flat edge with rounded sides like this. It is close to the one we have, although not in a rustic NOLA style.

Even though I don’t often make a roux, there is no better utensil for it. My spoon is well-loved as I use it for so many other things. Don’t hesitate to add one to the utensil crock in your own kitchen.

Stuffing Pot or Bowl: small is okay. Whatever you’d use to make a box of stuffing, so either a microwave-safe dish or a small pot with a lid.

Tips for Roasted Veg: the veg in this recipe are diced small for my aching and exposed tooth nerves, but you could keep them large if you like. Dicing is hard work. That being said, the effect was cozy and nostalgic and I may never make it another way.

Do not quibble over the measurements of vegetables in this recipe. Approximation is acceptable, nay expected here. I once had the father of one of my boyfriends go apoplectic because I didn’t measure diced celery before adding it to a stock pot. We didn’t go far, him and I.

To make less work for yourself, par-peel your potatoes. A little skin is tasty, especially when it’s got some color on it from roasting. Yukon Gold Potato skin, and red potato skin for that matter, is very mild and delightful, so peel away the eyes and scraggly bits and get to roasting.

You can roast the veg ahead of time, even up to 3 or 4 days before if you know you’ll be short on time. Keep refrigerated until use.

Tips for the Roux: oh, roux. It seems a complicated thing. I suppose it is in a way, but besides burning it once I haven’t been able to mess it up.

Just keep stirring and scraping, really. Move it about at an easy pace. Don’t walk away from it. If it’s too dry, add more butter. You’ll be fine.

Tips for Meat Gravy: I would say that some of the herbs I’ve listed here are optional, but I won’t. Just try them. Use them all. This recipe is delicious, warm, scented, and herby with peppery notes. It is worth packing in a few extra spices in your cupboard for a rainy, or cold day.

The grated nutmeg is an Italian trick that I learned from an Englishman. I have a cheap but effective grater that lives next to my jar of whole nutmeg because I use it often for country cooking and chic cuisine alike. Try it out and you’ll never use the ground stuff again. Also, you’ll have fancy dust to garnish your chai lattes and holiday nog. Win & win.

In place of dried thyme, I used this bottle of Legumi e Zuppe that I bought from a local shop. It smells fabulous. It is comprised of fennel, caraway, savory, chili, and laurel, but you can use dried thyme, oregano, or really any Italian blend.

Tips for Pot Pie & Stuffing Dumplings: I bought pre-cooked, harvested rotisserie chicken from Costco. It comes vac-packed and it’s great. If you don’t have Costco, buy yourself a rotisserie chicken and get to pickin’.

You can make the stuffing ahead of time, but I didn’t. If you find it is too hot to make into balls by hand, try making stuffing quenelles as I did! It’s great fun. All you need is two spoons. If you get fed up and super hateful though, feel free to bung the stuffing bits haphazardly about the top of your pot pie mixture because life is short and pot pie is delicious.

Step 1: Roasted Veg (Diced Small)

Wash, prepare, and dice approximately 3 large carrots, 3 stalks of celery, one medium white or yellow onion, 2 sweet potatoes, and 2–3 medium Yukon gold potatoes. Add them to your enameled cast iron dish with 3 tablespoons of olive oil, one teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper, and 3 picked sprigs of fresh thyme.

Toss the vegetables to coat. Put the cover on your dish. Roast in a 400-degree oven for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir, scraping the stuck vegetable bits off of the bottom of the dish. Place back in the oven again — uncovered — for another 25 minutes or until the vegetables are fork-tender.

Set aside for Step 3.

Step 2: Roux To Meat Gravy

Pour your roasted vegetables into a large bowl so that you can re-use the same dish for this step. Scrape out any stragglers, but it’s okay if there are little bits of vegetables in the bottom.

Melt 6 tablespoons of salted butter on the stovetop over medium-low heat. When melted, add 1/2 of flour and stir, being sure to scrape the ensuing mash entirely off of the bottom. The flour will soak up all of the butter and you will be left with a sort of mushy-looking paste. Add 4 tablespoons of heavy cream and stir. Then scrape. Stir some more.

Continue stirring and scraping for 6–8 minutes. These minutes are essential for cooking out the flavor of raw flour. The more minutes, the darker, more caramel, and nuttier your roux will become.

When the roux looks this mustardy amber color, begin adding the stock about 1/2 cup at a time. Stir until it’s combined. When the mixture is warm again, it will be smooth like thick silk. Add another 1/2 cup of stock. Repeat until the stock is gone.

Add salt, bouillon, and seasonings listed above. Stir to incorporate. Give at least 3 minutes to allow the bouillon to melt.

Step 3: Meat Gravy to Pot Pie

Dice and add your chicken to the “gravy”. Let it get hot and bubbly while continuing to stir intermittently, scraping the bottom of the pan with your good spoon to prevent burning. Then add your roasted veg from Step 1 and the frozen peas.

Let your pot pie chicken mixture heat through until it begins bubbling again. Stir and scrape often. You may turn your burner to medium if it needs a bit more fire, but take care of your pot pie bottom: it will come to burning and sticking without much notice.

Finally, turn down the heat on your pot pie chicken. Allow it to simmer on your lowest burner setting while you make your stuffing. Stir and scrape occasionally.

Step 4: Soft Stuffing Dumplings

Make stuffing according to box instructions. When the stuffing is ready to eat, use your hands to press the stuffing into roundish dumplings or two spoons to make quenelles.

Plop your dumplings atop the pot pie mixture as you make them. This allows for the pot-pie side of the dumplings to become deliciously sludgy with gravy.

Step 5: Rest & Serve

It is optional to let the mixture bubble for 5 or so minutes more if you want the dumplings to partially incorporate into your pot pie chicken. If not, turn off the heat.

Rest your Pot Pie Chicken with Soft Stuffing Dumplings off the heat for 5–10 minutes. As the mixture cools, it will become slightly thicker, oozing slow, meaty pot pie goodness when you serve. Bon Appetit!

Serving Options:

Serve it French-Inspired: with store-bought (or homemade) puff pastry. Rolling it out, enclosing the top of your dish, slicing a couple of air-pockets, and baking in the oven to package instructions before enjoying with a bottle of Cote du Rhone.

Serve it Southern: with biscuit or cornbread dumplings instead of stuffing.

Serve it Vegetarian: replacing the chicken bouillon and stock with vegetable varieties, using a meat substitute or rehydrated porcini mushrooms in place of the chicken, and serving over ancient grains, whole grain rice, or basmati instead of beneath stuffing dumplings.

Serve it Crunchy: placing your pot pie chicken and soft dumplings from Step 4 in a 425-degree oven for 8–11 minutes to brown and crisp the craggy stuffing mounds to crunching.

Serve it Like The Anxious Enthusiast: to her hungry, hopeful, pained orafice because crowns are no fun, but eating delicious, soft, homemade Pot Pie Chicken is better than soup for the soul.

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