Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Countdown to Christmas: Chicken Pot Pie Makeover

This is my makeover version of the Lady & Sons chicken pot pie.  When we went to Savannah a couple years ago, I got to go to Paula Deen's restaurant and try her chicken pot pie.  As I always hoped and expected, it was amazing.  Lucky for me, the recipe can be found online here.  I finally decided to try to make it, so I typed it into Weight Watchers to see how many points per serving it would be (honestly, I knew it wouldn't be good, but I was curious).  Any guesses? 

Mine wasn't even close to the whopping 43 points per serving that it came out to be when I typed it into the recipe builder on WW.  After seeing that number, there was no way I could bring myself to make it (disclaimer:  I fully intend to order it again if/when I get to go back to Savannah... You've seen those quotes on Pinterest like "Christmas calories don't count"... well neither do Paula's in my book.  But mine do!).  So cue the montage music, because here comes the makeover!


Lady & Sons Chicken Pot Pie Makeover

Ingredients:
- 5 sheets fillo dough (no, this is not the same as puff pastry, but it's lower in calories and gives a similar effect)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 2 cups leftover cooked chicken
- 2 T. olive oil (for cooking the chicken, if already cooked, omit)
- 4 T. yogurt butter (or margarine)
- 2/3 c. flour
- 3 cups fat free evaporated milk
- 1/2 c. chicken stock
- 1 T. minced garlic
- 1/2 small yellow onion, minced
- 1 c. frozen peas, cooked
- 1 c. chopped cooked carrots
- pinch fresh nutmeg, optional
- salt and pepper, to taste
- it wasn't part of the original recipe, but I'd recommend adding 1/2 t. each of paprika and thyme.  The flavor of the original recipe relies greatly on the richness of the butter and cream.  By substituting healthier options, you lose some of this, so I added these spices to perk it back up.

** My makeover version is only 11 points per serving and makes 6 servings (the original claimed it to be only 4 servings, but very large servings).




Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Unroll 5 sheets of fillo dough, cut into 1 inch strips.  On a large cookie sheet, weave into a lattice large enough to cover each pie.  (I decided to make snowflakes to make them more festive!)




2.  Brush the top of each crust with beaten egg, then bake for 5-7 minutes until crust browns slightly.  Set aside until ready to assemble pies.




3.  In a large saucepan, melt butter and then slowly add flour, stirring until consistency of peanut butter, but not brown like a roux.  Slowly (very slowly!  I added it too quickly the first time and my flour clumped and did not mix) add evaporated milk and keep stirring. 








4.  Add chicken stock, garlic, and onion and stir until thickened.



5.  Add peas, carrots, and nutmeg, if using, and cut up the chicken (mine was shredded already).  Remove from heat.  Fill 4 individual bowls with chicken mixture then top each with a lattice square (or snowflake).  Bake for 5 minutes or until bubbly (I actually omitted this step because I don't have single serving baking dishes).








 This would make a great Christmas lunch.  You could even use pie crust and cut out holiday shapes using cookie cutters to top each dish.

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