Savory Chicken Pie

Well, since it's the weekend, I thought I'd share a slightly more complex recipe (although complex here really just means more interesting). Over the past year, my friends and I have gotten quite a bit of experience making savory pies. The recipe I'm about to share is slightly edited from the one I actually made and took pictures of (it came out a bit on the dry side), but that's the nature of experimental cooking. Sometimes, a recipe just needs a bit of tweaking. In any case, this is a recipe that really doesn't take overly long to prepare. Building the pie itself takes about 30-40 minutes, plus another 40 minutes-1 hour to bake. This recipe is good for about 3 meals.

-=Savory Chicken Pie=-

=Pie Crust=
2-1/2 cups flour
1 cup cold butter
1 Tbsp salt

First, preheat the oven to 350F. Start by cutting the butter up into small chunks. Put both the butter, salt and flour into a food processor. Pulse the blender, adding cold water in 1 Tbsp increments until the dough clumps together when pinched. The dough should be in pea sized lumps. Take half of the dough and press it directly into the bottom and sides of a pie dish. Don't knead the dough too much or it will get too dense. Take the other half of the dough and roll it out into a disk for the top of the pie. Again, knead the dough as little as possible. Set these aside and prepare the pie ingredients.

=Filling=
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/2 Russet Potato
1/2 head Broccoli
1 Onion
2 Chicken breasts
2 oz Shredded Cheese

In a small pot, melt the butter. When fully melted, blend in the flour and slowly mix in the milk, stirring until smooth to make a simple white sauce. Slice the potato as thin as you can, and chop up the chicken, broccoli and onion. Place one layer of potato in the bottom of your pie, then add the chicken, onions, and broccoli. Pour in the white sauce, then add another layer of potato. Finally, top with the shredded cheese, and cover the pie with the dough disk from before. Cut a small x in the center to allow venting. If you like, you can brush some milk over the top of the pie crust. Place the pie in the oven and bake, about 40-60 minutes.

Total Time: 1 hour- 1:45

Cost:
Flour: $1.79/5 lb bag --> 2-1/2 cups + 2 Tbsp => ~$0.26
Butter: $1.99/lb --> 1 cup + 2 Tbsp => ~$1.06
Potato: $0.99/lb --> 1/2 potato => $0.37
Milk: $1.98/gallon --> 1/2 cup => $0.06
Broccoli: $1.49/lb --> 1/2 head => $0.16
Onion: $2.29/2 lb bag --> 1 onion => $0.38
Chicken: $1.99/lb --> 2 breasts => $2.00
Cheese: $2.19/bag --> 2 oz => $0.54

Total Cost: $4.83 ($1.61 per meal)