This Chicagoland second wind of summer weather is messing with my fall food obsession, friends, and I’m not having it. I’m all for warm weather, but sticky, humid, can’t-open-the-windows-weather is not fun in October. I want to feel the cool breeze while the leaves crunch under my shoes instead of sweat dripping down my face.
With the weather we’ve been experiencing, it’s hard to even believe it’s October. Anyone else slacking on putting Halloween decorations up? It’s shameful in our house. No webs, no fake spiders, no pumpkins. Just horrific. I guess I have a slight excuse because we’re redoing the shelving area next to our fire place and right now I have absolutely no place to decorate. I’m just going to start hanging things on the walls.
Okay, back to the food. While I haven’t been consuming all things fall, I have snuck a couple of comforting recipes in the few days Mother Nature decided to give us a taste of fall. One of those recipes was a twist on a classic pot pie. Let me just say, this ain’t your mama’s pot pie because it’s topped with cheddar and thyme biscuits. They are fluffy, savory, and the perfect topping to soak up all of the delicious pie filling. When baking in the oven, the tops become golden and crispy while the bottoms cook like a dumpling.
If you end up making this fall favorite, don’t forget to tag your photos with #marinamakeseats!
Chicken Pot Pie Topped with Cheddar Thyme Biscuits
Ingredients
Pot Pie Mixture
- 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup of yellow onion, chopped
- 1/2 cup of carrots, chopped
- 1/2 cup of white mushrooms, chopped
- ¼ cup of celery, chopped
- Salt
- Pepper
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 cup of frozen peas
- 1 tablespoon of fresh thyme, chopped
- 3 tablespoons of unbleached flour
- 3 cup of chicken broth
- 1/2 cup of heavy cream
- 2 cups of shredded rotisserie chicken
Biscuits
- 1 1/2 cups of flour, plus additional flour for sprinkling
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1 stick of unsalted butter (8 tablespoons), chilled and cut into small cubes
- 1 1/4 cup of buttermilk
- 1 cup of shredded cheddar cheese
- 2 teaspoons of fresh thyme, chopped
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep your veggies by chopping the onion, carrots, celery, mushrooms and garlic on a cutting board with a large knife. I recommend cutting all of the veggies into small cubes, and make sure they’re all cut around the same size, except for the garlic it should be finely diced.
Place a large pot on the stove over medium heat and melt the butter. Once melted, add the onion, celery, carrots and mushrooms, and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 5-7 minutes, or until the vegetables become a little tender. Add the minced garlic, peas and thyme and cook for an additional minute. Sprinkle the veggies with the flour and stir to combine, cooking for an additional two minutes until the flour turns a golden brown. Add the chicken broth and heavy cream and stir to combine. Bring mixture to a boil and simmer for 5-7 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Stir in the chicken. Remove from heat and pour the mixture into a 9 X 13 inch casserole dish, filling it 3/4 of the way to leave room for the biscuits. Set aside.
Now that the pot pie mixture is cooked, start making the biscuit dough. Place the 1 1/2 cups of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Stir to combine. Add the chilled, cubed butter and using a pastry cutter (alternatives: potato masher or fork), mash the butter into the flour mixture, cutting until the butter pieces are the size of a pea. Add the buttermilk, cheese and fresh thyme. Stir until combined (do not overmix!). Place biscuit dough on a clean, floured surface and sprinkle all sides lightly with flour. Using a rolling pin or your hands, roll the dough out to be a half of inch to an inch thick. Using a biscuit cutter (or circular cookie cutter or the top of a large glass), cut out five biscuits and place them on top of the pot pie, close together, but not touching. If you have extra biscuits, place them on a baking sheet to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.
Place the baking dish on top of a baking sheet (there might be some overflow while baking) and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until biscuits are golden and the sides of the pan are bubbling.
Marina Makes 