Happy Pi Day! I have been waiting for this day, because I always need more excuses for more pie.

Which reminds me. How about some curried chicken pot pie?

I’m so pleased with how this turned out. Dave made the filling, and I was able to use some of my homemade puff pastry for the topping, too, which was buttery and perfect. If you don’t want to use puff pastry, you can also use a little sheet of pie crust or make a batch of biscuits and use some of that for a topping (and eat a few alongside, as well). You can also make this in a pie pan-sized dish or one of those 9×9 glass brownie pans.

Here’s what you need:

4 cups frozen vegetables, thawed (we used peas and carrots)
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 cup chopped celery
2 to 2 1/2 cups chicken stock (homemade or low sodium if you can)
1/2 cup milk or cream
3 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
2 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into cubes
Puff pastry

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

In the largest skillet you have, melt the butter and cook the onions and celery until the onions are translucent. Add the thawed frozen veggies in and bring everything up to the same temperature.

Basically, next you are going to make a roux with curry. Add the flour and the curry powder into the pan and stir to make sure everything has a little bit of a coat. Cook for two or three minutes, and then add in the chicken stock and the cream. Stir in the chicken pieces as well and bring up to a simmer. You’ll want to reduce the sauce just a bit so it thickens to the texture of a cream sauce like an alfredo – if there’s not enough liquid you can add more chicken stock. Err on the side of having more liquid in your sauce, because it will get drier in the oven.

Transfer the filling into either small individual baking dishes or one larger ceramic one, and then cover with a layer of puff pastry. Bake for 25 minutes or so, until the puff pastry is golden brown. Allow to cool for a few minutes before you consume, because the filling will be VERY hot.

Adapted from Food Network.