lemon dill mushroom pot pie

Delicious, hearty, and satisfying! Not too heavy with the lemon dill sauce replacing a traditional heavy cream sauce. Never made a pot pie from scratch before. I’ll give an approximation of what I did, with both a vegetarian and chicken-y option.

-1 package mushrooms cut into small chunks (I used portobellos)
-a pound or two (or more) of potatoes (I used maybe 12 baby red potatoes)
-a few carrots, parsnips, celery, peas, leeks, or whatever veggies you have
-a tablespoon or so of flour (can use gf or apf or whatever you have)
-vegetable or chicken stock
-olive oil or chicken schmaltz
-onion and garlic
-one to two fresh lemons
-fresh dill to taste
-1 sheet frozen puff pastry, or any flaky pastry recipe from scratch
-dried thyme, sage, or other dry herbs (optional)
-splash of milk or cream (optional)
-chicken or veg meat-substitute (optional)

–

This is a really flexible recipe. You can poach everything together in the stock, or cook things separately and add them at the end. You can cook everything on the stove and then dump everything into an oven-safe casserole dish if you don’t have a dutch oven or deep cast iron skillet. I’ll just share how I did it:

1. (optional: roast a chicken and set aside the meat, torn into small shreds, like for chicken salad. or use a rotisserie chicken, leftover chicken, whatever you have. veg folks can use leftover chunks of meat substitute, or just leave this out. )
2. In a dutch oven or oven-safe deep pan, caramelize an onion in olive oil or schmaltz.
3. Add minced garlic and raw vegetables like carrots, mushrooms, leeks, potatoes, or whatever you have. (You can also boil the potatoes the day before to save time. Add them towards the end if you choose this.)
4. When veggies are almost soft, add a tablespoon or so of flour, until veggies are lightly coated. Cook til flour is browned. (May want to preheat the oven to 425 around now.)
5. Add a cup or two of vegetable or chicken stock until things look saucy, stirring well. Add any soft ingredients like peas, and dried herbs like thyme (optional).
6. Simmer until everything tastes perfect, maybe 5 or 10 minutes, longer if the potatoes were raw. (If you like it creamy, add a splash of milk or cream here.)
7. Turn off heat. Add the juice of a lemon or two, to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Finally, add back in the cooked chicken and a bunch of minced fresh dill to taste.
8. Lay the pastry on top and bake for a half hour or until pastry is golden brown. Start the oven high for a while and turn it down lower, so the puff pastry gets crunchy.

recipe by friedsig and adapted from potato, leek, and pea pot pie from epicurious

+

I am really into lemon dill lately. My go-to soup is avgolemono with lemon and dill, and my go-to chicken salad is this chicken salad with spinach, apple, and dill. This is not dissimilar from a Greek chicken soup – carrots, dill, lemon – but the pastry really makes it feel special. Next time I will tackle a homemade pastry, but the frozen one I used made a flaky and beautiful crust. Fed some friends over graduation weekend and they all said it was amazing – one said it’s one of the best things she’s ever eaten. I think she was just being nice, but either way, I will definitely make this for a crowd again.

Advertisement