Single Lady Pot Pie

All the single ladies (all the single ladies)...
All the single ladies (all the single ladies)...


I just love savory pies. This goes back to my childhood - in an attempt to escape Korean food, I sought out the most American of foods: the TV dinner. How awesome were those compartments that separated the turkey and mashed potatoes with gravy from the beans and the little fruit cobbler dessert?

Really, when I look back, it's rather appalling.



I can trace my introduction to pot pies to this era of TV dinners. Yes, I admit it, I was enticed by any form of meal that comes in a box. Sometimes I still find myself reaching for them at the grocery store... then I slap my hand and tell myself to go make it from scratch!

But of all the meals a person can make, creating a chicken pot pie for one can be tricky.

I have this little mini casserole dish that I've successfully used for a single meal in the past. Starting with this Alton Brown recipe for curry chicken pot pie, I managed to proportion the ingredients and got this beauty:



Yum. I accidentally put in a little too much curry powder I think, but it was delicious. (Incidentally, I stumbled upon a possible chicken curry dish - the chicken mixture by itself was good enough to eat on top of some rice.)

The puff pastry didn't puff very much though - could I improve it? [Queen Pastry Chef, I'm having all kinds of issues with puff pastry!]


This time I rolled it out and tried to stretch it across the dish. I used an egg wash too, which I think contributed to the pretty golden color. For the pot pie itself, I omitted the curry powder this time and used dried rosemary instead.


The puff pastry sprung a leak unfortunately, but it was still a yummy dinner. Which I ate in front of the TV, of course.

Ingredients (for one)

• butter
• half a small onion
• celery stalk, chopped
• tablespoon of flour
• optional: curry powder or dried rosemary
• about 1/3 cup of mixture of frozen peas and corn
• about 1/3-1/2 cup of chopped leftover chicken
• about 3/4 of chicken stock
• about 1/4 of milk
• chopped parsley
• small piece of puff pastry, slightly defrosted (1/4 to 1/2 of a full sheet)

Shorthand instructions

• preheat oven to 350
• heat up in small saucepan the chicken stock and milk
• optional: toss the corn and peas in a little oil and stick in oven for 5-10 minutes
• saute onions in butter, then add celery (if using dried rosemary, this is a good time to add it)
• sprinkle flour into this mixture and saute (if using curry powder, add it now)
• carefully pour in the chicken stock/milk mixture and let simmer until thickened
• mix in corn/peas, chicken, parsley
• adjust seasonings
• pour into baking dish
• roll out puff pastry and cover baking dish; brush with egg wash
• bake at 350 for about 25 min