Did you have certain meals that you thought of as being the height of taste when you were a child?

It had to be something that your mom didn’t make, of course. Why would a child idolize something a parent was able and willing to make at home?

No, it needed to be something just out of reach: a food that restaurants didn’t often offer but that Mama also didn’t make.

That was a pretty tall order at my house because Mama is a good cook and makes nearly everything. There were some meals, though, that she just didn’t have in her repertoire routinely.

One of those was chicken cordon bleu, which I had only when we were able to go in with friends to place a Sysco order.

Another was chicken and dumplings, which I had only at relatives’ homes, usually after funerals. (To be clear, I never thought that was an even trade.)

And the last was chicken pot pie. Evidently I had a thing for chicken.

I only ever had chicken pot pie when someone I knew – or a family I babysat for – had one of those little individual-sized pies in the freezer.

They took forever to bake, and then the insides remained as hot as molten lava indefinitely. I’d always try to eat a bite too soon and cook the roof of my mouth.

Still and all, I loved them. Loved the creamy sauce and the bursts of sweetness from the corn and peas and, of course, the flaky crust.

When the pandemic hit, I became a little obsessive about using up all the bits and bobs of foods. I also began to make things from scratch that I’d never before made from scratch.

Translation: I felt obligated to make my own chicken stock before disposing of a chicken carcass, and I learned to make pie crust.

And that is how my first chicken pot pie was born. I remember being so proud as we ate that little broccoli-and-chicken pie, knowing I had made it all from nothing but ingredients. I made several chicken pot pies in the months that followed.

But as life began to move again and I went back to the classroom, chicken pot pies looked a whole lot more daunting.

They aren’t hard, but they certainly are time-consuming. So I tried a version that had biscuits on top. That was easy, but it took forever to cook.

In fact, if I recall correctly, that night was one of the few that made me give up on the meal and order a pizza. (I am seldom willing to admit defeat in the kitchen, but sometimes you gotta know when to fold ‘em, as the inimitable Mr. Rogers would say.)

At any rate, I saw a recipe similar to this one on YouTube recently and knew it was something I could adapt and make into a weeknight meal.

The trick was to bake the biscuits in the oven and simmer the pot pie insides on the stovetop separately and then put them together just before eating.

Voila! I felt like I’d found my food holy grail.

CHICKEN UN-POT PIE

Ingredients
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (about 1 1/2 cup)
2 carrots, peeled and diced (about 1 cup)
3 small or 2 large chicken breasts (or 4-5 chicken thighs), diced into bite-sized pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 chicken stock (or water plus bullion)
1 can corn, drained (or 1 cup frozen corn)
1 can peas, drained (or 1 cup frozen peas)
1 cup milk
1-2 tablespoons cornstarch
About 8 large biscuits (homemade or store-bought)

Directions
■ Turn multi-cooker pot on saute. (Alternatively, heat a pot on the stove over medium heat.) Add a bit of oil to pot. Add onion, garlic, and chicken to pot. Sprinkle in seasonings. Saute chicken for a few minutes to develop a bit of color. Add potatoes and carrots to pot. Saute chicken and vegetables for a few more minutes. (They should be a little cooked but will cook the rest of the way in the next step.) Add chicken broth to the pot and use the liquid and a wooden spoon or silicon spatula to scrape the browned bits off the bottom of the pan. If using a multi-cooker, turn off saute feature and place the pressure cooker lid onto the pot. Set the cooker to cook at high pressure for 10 minutes. If cooking this recipe on the stove, cover the pot with a lid and turn heat down to simmer. Allow to simmer until carrots are tender, at least 30 minutes.
■ While chicken and root vegetables cook, bake one recipe of biscuits using your favorite recipe. If you don’t ordinarily make biscuits, try mixing up the drop biscuits on the back of the Bisquick box, using a bag of frozen biscuits from the grocery store, or baking up a can of whomp biscuits from the refrigerated section.
■ When chicken and vegetables are cooked through, release remaining pressure and open lid. Add corn and peas (if desired). In a small, separate bowl, mix cornstarch with cold milk thoroughly until no lumps remain. This is a cornstarch slurry. Add slurry to hot mixture and stir. The mixture should begin to thicken almost immediately. Allow to cook for about 5 minutes. If you would like a thicker consistency, add another tablespoon of cornstarch to a few spoonfuls of milk. (Never add the cornstarch to a hot liquid unless you want to make tiny corn dumplings.) Taste for seasonings and add salt and pepper if needed.
■ To serve, split open biscuits and place in a bowl. Top with chicken mixture.

Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].

Amelia Plair is a Starkville resident who writes occasional food columns.

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