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Main · Dinner · Chicken · Pancetta · Mushrooms

Chicken Pot Pie with Brown Butter and Pancetta

The goal was a pot pie with real depth, and every step is there to add some. A quick stock from the rotisserie carcass, pancetta fat for the vegetables, mushrooms browned hard, brandy on the fond, brown butter in the roux, toasted spices, and a splash of Worcestershire. Lemon and parsley at the end keep it from going heavy.

Prep
45 min
Cook
1 hr 30 min
Total
2 hr 15 min
Serves
12
1×
Equipment
Dutch oven · mortar and pestle or spice grinder · two 9-inch pie plates (or one 9x13 dish) · pie weights · sheet pan
Oven
375°F for the blind bake, then 400°F
A slice of chicken pot pie in a grey bowl, flaky puff pastry over shredded chicken, peas, carrots, and thick sauce, with the rest of the pie in a fluted stoneware dish and a bowl of tomato salad beside it

Instructions

Stock and spices

  1. Stock. Pull the meat off the rotisserie chicken and shred it; set it aside. Put the carcass, skin, and any jelly from the container in a pot with the bone broth, water, onion, celery ends, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Simmer 30–45 minutes while you prep everything else, then strain. You need 3½ cups, kept hot.
  2. Spices. Toast the peppercorns, coriander, fennel, and mustard seed in a dry skillet over medium heat until fragrant, 2–3 minutes. Grind in a mortar and pestle, or a spice grinder.

Whole coriander, black peppercorns, fennel seed, and yellow mustard seed in a dark skillet before toasting

The toasted spices ground to a coarse brown powder in a small blue bowl

Blind-bake the bases

  1. Blind-bake. Heat the oven to 375°F. Line two 9-inch pie plates with crust (I used Inspired Taste’s flaky pie crust with ½ tsp of the umami seasoning worked into the dough), lay parchment over each, and fill with pie weights. Bake 15 minutes, lift out the parchment and weights, and bake 3 minutes more so the bottoms set and stay crisp under the filling. Turn the oven up to 400°F for the pies.

Build the filling

  1. Pancetta. Render the pancetta in a Dutch oven over medium heat until the fat has run and the bits are golden and crisp, 6–8 minutes. Lift the bits out with a slotted spoon; leave the fat.

Crisp, glossy bits of rendered pancetta

  1. Mushrooms. Turn the heat to high and brown the mushrooms in the pancetta fat, in batches if the pot is crowded, until they take deep color. Set aside with the pancetta.
  2. Vegetables and brandy. Cook the onion, carrots, and celery in the Dutch oven over medium-high heat until they soften and take color at the edges, 8–10 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minute. Pour in the brandy and scrape up the fond; it will likely flame on a gas stove, and the flames burn out in a few seconds. Cook until the sharp smell is gone, 1–2 minutes.

Diced onion, rainbow carrots, and celery in the Dutch oven with a wooden spoon

Blue and orange flames rising from the Dutch oven as the brandy burns off over the vegetables

  1. Brown butter roux. Push the vegetables to one side, add the butter to the clear side, and let it foam and brown until it smells nutty. Sprinkle in the flour and stir everything together into a loose paste; if it looks dry and clumpy, add olive oil a tablespoon at a time. Cook 2 minutes. It will look darker than a blond roux because of the browned milk solids, which is fine.

Butter browning in the clear side of the Dutch oven beside the cooked vegetables

  1. Sauce and potatoes. Whisk in the hot stock gradually, then the cream. Add the potatoes, umami seasoning, Worcestershire, thyme, sage, and the ground spice blend. Simmer gently until the potatoes are tender and the sauce coats a spoon heavily, 15–20 minutes. If the potatoes are still firm after 15 minutes, put the lid on; a thick sauce cooks them slowly, and the lid speeds it up. Add a splash of stock if the sauce tightens too much; you can always reduce it again. It should end up looking slightly too thick, since the chicken and vegetables will loosen it.
  2. Finish. Off the heat, fold in the chicken, peas, mushrooms, and most of the pancetta, then the lemon juice and parsley. Taste now, and only now, for salt; a pinch is likely all it needs.

The finished filling: thick pale sauce flecked with spice, carrots, celery, potato, and mushroom, with a wooden spoon

Assemble and bake

  1. Top. Divide the filling between the blind-baked crusts. Cut each puff pastry sheet into a round that sits just inside the baked edge of the bottom crust, lay it over the filling, cut a few slits, and brush with the egg wash. Scatter the remaining pancetta on top if you like. Set the pies on a sheet pan.
  2. Bake. 400°F for 30 minutes, then tent loosely with foil so the tops don’t brown too far and bake 8 minutes more, until the filling bubbles at the edges. Rest 10 minutes before cutting; that rest is what keeps the filling in the slice.

Two baked pot pies with deep golden puff pastry tops cooling on the stove, one in a fluted stoneware dish and one in glass

Notes

  • Crust. Any store-bought or homemade pie crust works for the base. I used Inspired Taste’s flaky pie crust with ½ tsp of the umami seasoning worked into the dough.
  • One dish instead of two. The filling is about 8–9 cups, which also fits a 9×13 or a deep 10-inch skillet with one puff pastry top. A standard 9-inch pie plate holds about half.
  • Salt. Pancetta, a rotisserie bird, the umami seasoning, and Worcestershire are four salty inputs, so season only at the end. Mine needed a single pinch.
  • Why bone broth. Its gelatin sets the filling firmer as it cools, so slices hold and leftovers are nearly sliceable from the fridge. Low-sodium matters here for the reason above.
  • Leftovers reheat well in a 350°F oven, uncovered, until hot through; the microwave softens the pastry.