Making a pot pie is one of my favorite dinners. Although I admit to rarely putting a pie crust on top! Pot pie is a great way to use up what you have on hand.
For starters, you probably want some meat. I most often use some chopped chicken (1-2 c.) However, I would also consider:
- diced ham
- diced beef
- shredded pork
- leftover turkey
- diced lamb
- venison stew meat
- whatever else you might have (though I'd rather not know if it's something cute and fuzzy)
Next it's helpful to have some kind of base for making the sauce. Most often, I would use chicken or beef broth. You could thicken it with flour or cornstarch. If you don't know how to make a basic white sauce, try googling "white sauce how to." The procedure for making pot pie gravy would be the same, except that you would replace the milk with broth (although a milk based sauce might be good with ham).
To make this a little more concrete, I would place a few tablespoons of butter in a pan and melt them. I would remove it from the heat and mix in about 1/4 c. of flour. To that I would whisk in about 3-4 c. of broth or milk.
If you have jar or canned gravy, or gravy in an envelope you could use that. If you have some canned cream soup, you could thin it a little with milk and use that.
After making about 4c. of sauce, I would add the meat and a package of frozen mixed vegetables. I just eyeball this. If I have a lot of meat, I add less veggies. More often, I add a lot of veggies to compensate for a lack of meat. You could also use canned vegetables. If you're working with ham, a California blend veggie might be nice. Pour the whole mixture into a large casserole dish.
You can top a pot pie lots of different ways, depending on what you have on hand. Here are some things you might consider:
- pie crust
- mashed potatoes
- dropped biscuit dough placed like dumplings
- canned biscuits
- frozen biscuits
- premade pizza crust (thin crust)
- corn bread batter
- Filo dough
Set the oven at the temperature you would usually use to cook the topping. In other words, if your not sure how long to cook it, consult the regular cooking time for the topping. Say canned biscuits at 450 degrees for 6-8 minutes, etc...
If you are in a big hurry or are looking for something different, don't top the filling. Instead, use a biscuit or potato as the base and pour the filling on top. The sky is the limit.
I know this recipe may seem vague, but you can do it. Let your taste buds and common sense be your guide. You may be pleasantly surprised by what you create!