Making chicken pies to freeze

[Sandi Jones]

I'm making chicken pot pies to freeze tomorrow, and I'd like some advice on how/when to cook them. The filling will be cooked in advance, of course. But as for the dough, how should that be treated?

I'm making the pastry for the shell, but have bought a roll of puff pastry to top it with. Should I blind-bake the shell? Just fill it and let it cook when it's being cooked through to serve?
Advice appreciated!
As a side topic - what makes chicken pot pie "pot"? Is it the crust on top? Is is the container it's made in?

[Martin Fisher]

10 hours ago, Sandi Jones said:

what makes chicken pot pie "pot"?

 

Around here it's a bastardized form of the Pennsylvania Dutch term bot boi.

[pufin3]

11 hours ago, Sandi Jones said:

I'm making chicken pot pies to freeze tomorrow, and I'd like some advice on how/when to cook them. The filling will be cooked in advance, of course. But as for the dough, how should that be treated?

I'm making the pastry for the shell, but have bought a roll of puff pastry to top it with. Should I blind-bake the shell? Just fill it and let it cook when it's being cooked through to serve?
Advice appreciated!
As a side topic - what makes chicken pot pie "pot"? Is it the crust on top? Is is the container it's made in?

Yes I'd blind bake the shells first for sure.

Otherwise the bottom of the shell isn't going to bake through before the top is golden brown.

To bake I put the frozen pie into a 275 F preheated oven. I do this to gently heat the pie through without turning the top too dark. It takes more time but you'll get a more evenly heated pie. For the first few pies baked like this use a oven thermometer to check the internal temp and record how long at 275 F it takes to get the pie nice and hot. When you reach the temp you want if the top isn't as crispy as you want just crank up the broiler setting and watch the top like a hawk. In a couple of minutes the top will be golden and the rest will be bubbling hot ready to serve.

[Anna N]

12 hours ago, Sandi Jones said:

I'm making chicken pot pies to freeze tomorrow, and I'd like some advice on how/when to cook them. The filling will be cooked in advance, of course. But as for the dough, how should that be treated?

I'm making the pastry for the shell, but have bought a roll of puff pastry to top it with. Should I blind-bake the shell? Just fill it and let it cook when it's being cooked through to serve?
Advice appreciated!
As a side topic - what makes chicken pot pie "pot"? Is it the crust on top? Is is the container it's made in?

 I am not sure that I've ever seen chicken pot pie made in a crust. Of course that just may be a family or regional thing. I am  familiar with it being made in a dish and then topped with either puff pastry or biscuits or even mashed  potatoes. Will be very interested in other opinions.  

[JohnT]

44 minutes ago, Anna N said:

 I am not sure that I've ever seen chicken pot pie made in a crust. Of course that just may be a family or regional thing. I am  familiar with it being made in a dish and then topped with either puff pastry or biscuits or even mashed  potatoes. Will be very interested in other opinions.  

Anna N, I think you are quite correct - a pot pie is simply chicken or meat cooked with vegetable chunks in a thickened gravy, placed in a pie dish and then normally only the top covered with a disk of pastry after the main ingredients are cooked, just to finish the pie to make it presentable. For instance, a Shepards Pie is similar but using ground beef and topped with mashed potato after the ground beef and vegetables are cooked. The tops are then baked until either puffed or the mash is browned.

[JohnT]

Reading the OP question and taking it a bit OT, I make a lot of dishes and freeze them in foil containers for my wife when I am away from home. One of them is Shepards Pie. I took a couple of them out the freezer earlier and that is what we are having for dinner tonight. Simple but comfort food.

[Sandi Jones]

I should have added that I'm making mini-pies, so the fam can take them to work/school. They need to be ultimately microwavable, so I don't want to send them in aluminum mini-tins. So I'm using the pie shell as the container, if you will. Traditional pot pie doesn't have a crust, absolutely.

[BeeZee]

what about thinking of something more like a Pastie or Empanada? They were designed to be portable meals, meat/veg contained within a crust?

[Sandi Jones]

1 minute ago, BeeZee said:

what about thinking of something more like a Pastie or Empanada? They were designed to be portable meals, meat/veg contained within a crust?

That is a possibility... I was just about to start making the filling. Would it have to be thicker than the average pot pie filling? Empanada/pastie fillings are fairly dry, compared to pot pie.

 

[BeeZee]

yes, you definitely don't want as much "gravy" in those other types. It will soften that dough as they sit.

[JohnT]

The  easiest way to make small chicken pies is using puff pastry. Cut a rectangle or circle to a size that is basically double the finished pie. Roast a chicken (or two) and shred the cooked meat off the carcas. Mix the shredded chicken with a quantity of mayonnaise, salt and pepper, and put a dollop on the side of the recrangle or circle. Fold over the one half and seal the edge by pressing down with a fork. With a skewer put 2 holes in the top. Place on a baking sheet and brush with some egg-wash. Bake in a 200°C/400°F oven for about 20 minutes - until the pastry is puffed and golden brown. And that is it! And do not think the filling is dry - mayonnaise makes a nice moist filling. I often make about 100 of these at a time for catering at functions.

Edited February 11, 2016 by JohnT
Correct spelling. (log)

[ChocoMom]

I can't speak about empanadas, but pasties are a staple around here. Traditionally, you'd use equal amounts of ground beef and ground pork. mix with diced carrots, potatoes, onions and rutabaga, Season with salt and pepper, If you've got your pie crust laid out flat, you'd scoop the meat/veggie mixture onto one half, leaving some room around the edges to seal. Now, Grandma Saimi used to top the mixture with a pat of butter, then fold over the dough, and seal by pressing a fork around the edges. You can brush with an egg-water wash, if you'd like

There is no gravy to speak of inside this. My kids douse them ketchup, and some folks like gravy, but the meat is very moist inside and gravy isn't really necessary. Up here, they used to take pasties down into the copper mines for their meal.  Very easy to carry.

 

They can be wrapped in foil, or wrap in parchment paper and ziploc, then frozen. 

Years ago, when my kids were toddlers, (I'd get my parents to babysit) and I'd spend one or two days a month buddy-cooking with my neighbor. In one day, we made 40 pasties, and 20  1-gal Ziploc bags of spaghetti sauce. =) 

[FeChef]

PA dutch here. I cook the filling (obviously) then par back the pie so that the pastry top is golden brown and the filling starts to seep out the poked hole in the center of the pastry top. Then i chill and freeze on a cookie sheet and vacuum seal the frozen pie. To reheat i use a lower temp in the oven for a longer time. I usually thaw in the fridge before reheating in oven.

[pufin3]

I make about 3 dozen 'Forfar Bridies' at a time. Bake them then freeze them. You can use ground meat of anything type or rough chopped meat, seafood of any type.

I just make a roux-based thick white sauce and add whatever I want to it.

The sky's the limit. So easy to 'nuke them'.

They make an easy 'finger-food' as long as the filling isn't too liquid.

 I use regular pastry dough.

Check them out on Google.

 

 

[Okanagancook]

Speaking of pies, Heston Blumenthal did a show on English pies.  In the historical part of the show he talks about what went into those lowly pies back in the day.  Apparently all kinds of nasty bits were used, including rotten flesh making the purchasers quite ill. 

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/hestons-great-british-food/episode-guide

[Deryn]

I've seen that Heston show, Okanagancook, but, I was enjoying this thread and it had me thinking about making some form of a meat pie - hand or 'potted' - in the very near future ... till I read your post. Oh well, maybe in a few months when I have forgotten about their British origins again.  

[kbjesq]

Growing up in New England, our chicken pot pies always had a top crust and the bottom crust,  so that's the way I've always made them. Maybe this is a regional thing? Because our salmon pies also had a top crust and a bottom crust.

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, kbjesq said:

Growing up in New England, our chicken pot pies always had a top crust and the bottom crust,  so that's the way I've always made them. Maybe this is a regional thing? Because our salmon pies also had a top crust and a bottom crust.

 I suspected it might well be a regional thing and so it appears to be.

[suzilightning]

Also had upper and lower crust and I grew up on the East end of Long Island.  I also make small pies and definitely blind bake the bottom crusts.  I tend to make the filling drier and am sure to have extra gravy that I add a bit to the pies before I bake them and have extra to dose them with when they are done.

[Smithy]

I grew up in central California thinking that chicken pot pies had a top and bottom crust, but (confession time here) our chicken pot pies came from Swanson and were a luxury treat. 

 

[pufin3]

Oh the sweet memories about Swanson.

 As a teenager I worked for a company as a laborer.

 Lot's of overtime. Anyone who worked more than 1 1/2 hours OT was allowed to go into the chest kreezer and heat up as many Swanson dinners as they wanted to. Full range of Swanson dinners.

One of us would put two or three dinners for each of us into a hot oven about half an hour before we broke for dinner. Sometime we had thirty dinners piled into the oven!

Sometimes I ate semi frozen dinners. Who cared? They were always delicious.

 I'm going to buy a Swanson's dinner today for the first time in fifty years.