Get your can opener ready. This is comfort food at its finest–and easiest!
Pot pies have been around for centuries. Legend has it they were first made during the Roman Empire and became popular again during the 16th century. And yes, they DID bake the pies with live birds. (Recipes were found in old European cookbooks.)
Cut into the crust and out comes a bird.
Can you imagine??
We all know the nursery rhyme, “Sing a Song of Six Pence” . . .
Four and twenty blackbirds
baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
the birds began to sing:
isn’t that a dainty dish
to set before the King?
Whether it was done as a legitimate dish or as a joke at a party to surprise the guests, who knows? But the pot pie stayed with us through the years, enjoyed by the rich and the poor. The pastry and simple vegetables made for more mouths to feed.
I’ve been making this super-easy pot pie for a couple of decades now. When the girls were all home, we’d go through an entire pan at dinner. Nowadays, Crooksie and I have yummy leftovers, and a slice is as good warmed up as it is right out of the oven. Thyme is the secret ingredient–just a pinch. And it sets this pot pie apart from the rest.
I used rotisserie chicken for this go-round, but I usually take a couple of chicken tenderloins, boil and chop. You could use leftover turkey, too.
Open the cans, mix the ingredients and pour into the crust. After adding the top crust, be sure to slit to allow steam to escape. If you’d like, brush with a beaten egg wash.
It looks time-consuming, but it’s not. Best of all, when you cut that first slice, not a single bird will fly out. I promise!
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