Easy Chicken Pot Pie and Giveaway!!

As fall weather cools things down, my thoughts of cooking turn to comfort foods.  Soups simmering on the oven, warm flakey pie crusts, and holiday dinners replace salads and cold drinks on the menu.  All of these tasty fall foods mean turning on the oven and the stovetop and warming the kitchen with the smells of fall.

To kickstart the season on the savory side, I decided to combine a warm soup with a flaky crust and created a fast-and-easy chicken pot pie recipe with a hands on time of only 40minutes. Homemade stock is the best, but sometimes I don’t have time. To get things moving fast in terms of flavor, I browned some thyme and sage with bacon and then threw in the celery and carrots for a mirepoix. The bacon mirepoix along with 1/2 package of onion soup mix is base of of this of chicken pot pie. Follow the rest of the recipe and you will be done in no time.

While this is a fast and simple recipe, there are often times like the upcoming holidays that the GE Café^TM Double Oven Range is my dream oven with its double range, the bottom one a convection oven. Being able to finish all my dinner components at once would most definitely save me from juggling time with just one oven range. More importantly, it will probably save me from a few burns as I try to move faster than I should while moving things in and out of the oven. Many of you know I’m a complete perfectionist.  You should also know I’m a neat freak, so the glass buttons on the GE Café^TM Double Oven Range are perfect for easy cleaning. The flat surface means nothing falling or dripping into any open grooves and no trying to chisel out dried up food or sauces with bamboo skewers or my too-large fingers.

Here are the rules for the $100 Visa gift card sweepstakes:

• No duplicate comments.
• You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods between 10/20/11 and 11/9/11:
  • Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
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  • For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
• This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older
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• You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
• The Official Rules are available here.

***For your chance to win a GE Café^TM 120V Advantium, described as Four Ovens in One, visit the GE Café^TM Promotions page on BlogHer and share your own recipe or idea for Fall cooking between 10/20/11 and 11/9/11.*** Click on the box to find more recipes for the GE Café^TM Fall Harvest progressive meal and for more chances to win $100 Visa gift card.

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoon butter
• 3 pieces of bacon, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 5 sage leaves
• 2 cups baby carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1/8 cup of cornstarch
• 2 32oz  Chicken broth, low sodium
• ½ package of onion soup mix
• 11/2 cups orzo
• 1 rotisserie chicken, white meat removed and cubed
• 1 sheet of readymade puff pastry

Instructions:

1. Place butter, bacon, thyme and sage in a heavy bottom stock pot over medium heat and cook until bacon is browned, about 5-7 minutes. Add in carrots and celery and cook over high heat until celery becomes translucent, about 10-15 minutes.
2. Stir cornstarch into chicken broth. Pour chicken broth into stockpot and bring to a boil. Once boiled, add onion soup mix and orzo to the stock and cook according to the instructed time on orzo package. Turn off heat once orzo is cooked. Add cubed chicken.
3. Place finished chicken soup in bowls and brush sides and top edge of bowl with an egg wash. Cut puff pastry to fit bowl. Press puff pastry to bowl. Brush top of puff pastry with an egg wash, and then sprinkle coarse salt on top. Cut a hole or create an x-shaped slit on top. Bake at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes, or until puff pastry is browned.