My first chicken pot pie

*Apologies for the photo - I only realized how poor the lighting was after taking the one photo the batteries allowed. The crust came apart as I served it.

Changes: I used dried herbs, onion instead of leeks, and whole wheat flour. I also added goat cheese and cut the recipe in half. I really, really like turnip 'tops' (as we call them in NL) and I was looking forward to using them in a way that does not involve hours of cooking in salt water (as done in NL). However, there were none to be found around here, so I used Swiss chard instead.

Preparation: The first step called for a food processor, and I thought a blender could be a substitute. It really didn't work, so I mixed the ingredients manually, using two knives to cut things into each other. I don't think a processor is really necessary. Since I was away on Tuesday, I did all the prep and cooking in one go. It took about 3 hours from start to finish because of all the cooling and cooking involved.

Verdict: A good Fall meal. I think it would be much easier to make the second time round, now that I see how things go together. You could probably convert chicken soup into this pot pie pretty easily, since some of the early steps involve cooking the chicken to make a broth and cooking the veggies in it (and chicken + veggies + broth = soup). I was glad there was no crust under the pie and I didn't even end up eating much of the crust on top because I preferred the warm, soft inside. I am just not a huge pastry person it seems, even though the herbs in the crust were a nice touch. I would be interested to try one of the reviewer's suggestions and use mashed potatoes on top instead of a crust. That would really save on prep time, too.

This was my first time using shallots and chard and I liked them both. I ended up making a side dish turned appetizer from the chard - a combination of two recipes I found. It was delicious.