Chicken Pot Pie

As I stated in my blog posting of June 2020, Weekday Chicken in the Oven Recipes:

"I normally avoid posting dishes that are what I call "can-o-dis" recipes.  You know the type;  pour a "can-o-dis" kind of soup over something and then call that culinary art.  But I'm making an exception in this case because we all need convenience in our lives and sometimes, brevity and simplicity doesn't mean something can't taste damn good.  And that's been a prime directive for this blog since I started it over a decade ago - never post any recipe that I haven't personally tried and that either myself or my Number One Fan hasn't made and perfected.....and liked."

It was the perfect lead-in to this recipe, which in spite of its use of canned soup, requires a bit of culinary expertise and a true vision of how the ultimate, perfectly prepared chicken pot pie should taste.  This is My Number One Fan's recipe and she had just such a vision.  Originally, she made the crust from scratch, but later learned that Pillsbury has perfected a refrigerated prepared pie crust sheet that saves a lot of work and is indistinguishable from scratch-made.  This is comfort food at its finest!

Ingredients
2 refrigerated pie crust sheets (like, Pillsbury)
4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or 9 oz shortcut roasted chicken (like, Perdue)
2 cups chicken broth (like, Swanson's or Progresso)
1 can condensed cream of potato soup (like, Campbell's)
1 can condensed cream of chicken soup (like, Campbell's)
2 cups frozen mixed green peas & carrots (like, Bird's Eye or Kroger)
3 dashes Morton Nature's Seasons seasoning blend
2 dashes onion powder or more to taste
pinch rubbed sage or more to taste

The Recipe
Over medium high heat, gently simmer the chicken thighs in a saucepan with the chicken broth and the Nature's Seasons seasoning blend until cooked, 25-30 minutes.  If you're using shortcut chicken, like Perdue, that has already been cooked, skip this step and just shred the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

Remove the thighs from the broth and set aside on a cutting board to cool.  Reserve 1/3 cup of the broth and discard the rest.

Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, chop and shred the thighs into bite size pieces and place back into the saucepan with the 1/3 reserved chicken broth. Add the two cans of soup, the pinches of onion powder and sage, then stir well to combine. Heat to a simmer.

Pre-heat the oven to 425 degrees.

Microwave the frozen vegetable according to package directions.  Then, using a rubber spatula, gently fold the peas and carrots into the chicken and soup mixture.  When the mixture is hot and bubbly, remove from the stove.

In a 10" Pyrex glass pie dish, lay out one sheet of the pie crust and press it in to follow the contour of the side of the baking dish.

Spoon in the chicken mixture.  Top the dish with the second pie crust and use a dinner fork to seal and crimp the edges of the crust.

With a sharp knife, pierce the top crust in eight one-inch cuts in the configuration you see in the picture above.  This will allow the mixture to adequately vent steam so the crust properly cooks.

Bake on the top rack of your pre-heated oven for 40 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown.

Let stand 3-5 minutes before slicing into wedges and serving.