Chicken Pot Pie from Chicken Run
Mr. Tweedy: What is it?
Mrs. Tweedy: It’s a pie machine, you idiot. Chickens go in, pies come out.
Mr. Tweedy: Oooh. What kind of pies?
Mrs. Tweedy: Apple.
Mr. Tweedy: My favorite!
Mrs. Tweedy: Chicken pies, you great lummox! Imagine. In less than a fortnight, every grocers’ in the county will be stocked with box upon box of Mrs. Tweedy’s Homemade Chicken Pies.
Mr. Tweedy: Just “Mrs.”?
Mrs. Tweedy: Woman’s touch. Makes the public feel more comfortable.
– Chicken Run
Before I even get started, I want to make sure everyone feels more comfortable knowing I used my woman’s touch the entire time I was making this chicken pot pie from Chicken Run. Normally I prefer to use a manly touch when rolling out pastry dough for a pie (kneading dough is hard work!) but Mrs. Tweedy was pretty clear with her instructions. Also, I used a frozen pie crust rather than make my own dough. Of course, I COULD make my own pie pastry because that’s what all the fancy chefs do. But that, like, smacks of effort – especially when frozen pie crust is so readily available and affordable. Plus, Mrs. Tweedy’s machine has the pie crust ready made as well, speaking of…
One of the best scenes in Chicken Run is when Ginger and Rocky have to navigate and escape the pie machine:
During that scene you can see that the vegetables included in the chicken pot pie are: carrots, potatoes, onions, and mushrooms. I have some pretty strong opinions on whether mushrooms should be included in a chicken pot pie and that opinion is, they should not be included. It’s not that I dislike mushrooms, I just don’t like them in pies be they chicken or blueberry.
To get that delicate woman’s touch for my pie, I decided to base my recipe on the most delicate woman’s touch I can think of: Mary Berry. And, you might notice that in Mary’s recipe there are NO mushrooms…still I’m a stickler for following the actual, movie recipe so I decided to include it along with a few additional ingredients that should always be included in chicken pot pie like peas and celery. So this is authentic-ish?
- 5 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 onion
- 2 waxy potatoes
- 1 carrot
- 1 celery stalk
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken
- 1/2 cup frozen peas
- Frozen pie crust
Preheat oven to 375F. In a bowl, combine the (softened) butter with the flour and set aside. Next, dissolve the cornstarch in the milk and set aside. Chop the onion, carrot and celery and soften the vegetables in a large pot with butter. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes (or until vegetables are tender but not too soft). Add in the combined flour and butter to combine, then add the milk and cornstarch to thicken everything. Finally add the chicken and frozen peas and turn off heat. Be sure to season as you go. Allow the thickened mixture to cool before you pour into your pie crust.
Place the cooled filling into the frozen pie crust and cover with the other pie crust. Slice a few holes in the top to allow steam to escape. Bake for approximately 25-30 minutes or until the top is crisp and golden brown.
This was delicious, despite the mushrooms. And despite the fact that I didn’t make the pie crust easily saved me 20 minutes of time to focus on important things like surfing the internet. Look, I realize for a pie recipe to be “authentic” it needs to include a pastry component, but why are we doing this to ourselves? Does your homemade pastry crust really taste that much better than store bought? Probably. But could you have spent that time making the crust doing something enriching to society as a whole like I did? Also probably.
Cromulence: 9 Lone Free Rangers out of 10
Chicken Pot Pie Recipe from: Chicken Run movie