Chicken Pot Pie

• The BEST chicken pot pie l have ever eaten, l have made for Thanksgiving this year!

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• 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts
• 3 small onions, 2 cut in half, 1 chopped, divided
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1/4 pound button mushrooms, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 2 sprigs of rosemary
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup chicken stock
• 5-6 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves picked and chopped
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 box frozen peas
• 1 sheet puff pastry or pie dough, defrosted if frozen (l like to use a frozen pie crust for the bottom and a sheet of cresent rolls for the top!)

Pre-heat the oven to 375ºF.

Place the chicken, halved onion 2 garlic cloves crushed and bay leaves in a large pot and cover with cold water sprinkle garlic salt and some pepper into the water too!. Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring up to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the chicken has cooked through, about 20 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool. Reserve about 1 cup (a mugful) of the cooking liquid and then discard the remaining.

While chicken cools, place a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat with two turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons. Add the chopped onion, mushrooms, carrots, celery, chopped rosemary, thyme and 2 garlic cloves to the pan, then season with salt and pepper and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 7-8 minutes. While the veggies are cooking, remove the chicken breast meat from the bones and shred.

When the veggies are tender, scoot them over to the side of the pan and add the butter (l add a little extra butter) to the center of the pot. Once the butter has melted, add the flour and cook for about a minute. Whisk in the white wine, milk, chicken stock and reserved poaching liquid. Bring up to a simmer, then add the tarragon (optional), Dijon mustard, peas and shredded chicken. Bring back up to a simmer, season with salt and pepper and cook until the sauce has thickened, 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to a casserole dish (or partially baked frozen pie crust) and cover with the pastry dough or cresant roll dough, trimming it as needed to cover the entire surface. Make a few slits in the dough to allow steam to escape~ Bake until GOLDEN on top!