By Lisa Golden Schroeder

When I was in grade school, deciding what to eat for lunch on Saturdays took great deliberation. Eating a bag lunch during the school week meant a soggy sandwich (bologna and mayo topped the list in the sixth grade), maybe a pear or apple, and on a great day some kind of store-bought treat. Hot lunch was not any more appealing – think about the stereotypical lunch ladies with hairnets, slopping up mashed potatoes and gravy. So Saturday lunchtime offered a world of possibilities.

My all-time favorite choice, carefully selected from the freezer case at the supermarket, was my own foil pan of comforting chicken pot pie. Covered with a flaky pastry crust, the creamy chicken filling was flecked with a few token pieces of carrot and celery. It wasn’t gourmet fare, but it was so deliciously special by comparison to my mom’s smelly tuna sandwiches—and all my own! I begged my mom to buy those pies, a real concession on her part. But they became a reward for doing the Saturday morning shopping with her, being her store runner as she leisurely drove the cart up and down the aisles.

Now I’m a grown-up with my own children—and we all find ourselves craving chicken pot pies in the dead of winter (or pretty much anytime). And they are really so easy to make, there’s no need to buy them prepared. I like to find those individual foil pans to fill for the freezer myself, so they’re ready and waiting on a snowy Saturday noontime. But we really enjoy dipping into small ceramic ramekins topped with golden pastry, the chicken filling bubbling up the fragrance of sage and thyme, on a Sunday evening. A simple indulgence, a treat for the whole family.

PERSONAL CHICKEN POT PIES

Makes 4 servings

Making little pastry-covered pies was once a creative way to use leftover chicken or other meats. Now we just love them for their warmth and comfort. The filling for these little ramekins can be doubled and made ahead of time if you want to serve them to more than your family. Or fill a larger casserole or deep-dish pie plate and create one delicious pot pie for a Sunday supper. They can also be assembled ahead and frozen in 5-inch foil pot pie pans, then baked on demand while still frozen.

INGREDIENTS

For the filling

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 leeks, halved, thinly sliced

1 large carrot or parsnip, chopped

2 stalks celery + some leaves, chopped

½ cup baby button mushrooms, sliced

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ teaspoon crumbled sage

Freshly ground pepper

1 quart chicken broth

3 cups chopped cooked Just BARE™ chicken

Pastry top

1 sheet rolled refrigerated pie pastry (from a 15-ounce box)

1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 teaspoon water

Garlic salt

INSTRUCTIONS

• Heat butter and oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add leeks, carrot, celery and mushrooms. Cook for five minutes or until vegetables are lightly browned.
• Stir in flour, salt, thyme, sage and pepper. Cook and stir for about five minutes, until mixture is pale golden brown (mixture will be lumpy).
• Whisk in broth. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently. Cook eight minutes or until thickened. Stir in chicken.
• Spoon chicken mixture into four (12- to 16-ounce) baking dishes; refrigerate for 20 minutes or until room temperature.
• Heat oven to 375˚F. Unroll pie pastry; cut into desired shape* to cover filling. Lay pastry on top of each baking dish. Brush with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle with garlic salt.
• Bake for about 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and filling is bubbling.

*Cut pastry into wedges or into fluted rounds with a biscuit cutter. You can also use other pastry or cookie cutters to make different shapes.