Recipe: Improbable Chicken Pan Pie for Evelyn

This seems to be a very good recipe. Maybe you can add some golden raisins or 1/2 tsp brown sugar to the mix & you wll have the sweetness you crave for:

Improbable Chicken Pan Pie
by Matt Staroscik

2 12 oz. cans of cooked chicken
1 big fat potato, cubed or sliced
3 cups of chopped celery and carrots, in any proportion you like
1/2 onion, chopped. Use more if you like. I like onions.
1 can Campbell's condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 bay leaf
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp thyme
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 pre-made pie crust

To make this dish you will need a 12" cast-iron skillet or other oven-proof pan. This is an easy recipe, none of the proportions are critical and neither is the cooking time.

Use a spash of olive oil to saute the onions, celery and carrots until the onions over medium heat. (Don't forget to season the veggies with some kosher salt and black pepper.) When the onion starts to get soft, throw in the potato. Stir everything around, looking all chef-like, until the potatoes start to get a little cooked around the outside. You won't cook them all the way through right now; that's OK.

Turn your oven on to 350F.

Drain a can of chicken and dump it in the pan. Put in the other can of chicken, including about half the liquid. Add the mushroom soup and all the seasonings. Stir well. Stand there, looking like an Iron Chef, poking at the dish as it simmers over medium heat. You'll have something that looks like a thick chicken soup. Cook the dish uncovered over medium heat for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently. If the dish looks too dry, you can add some water. You want it bubbling, but you don't want it to be thin. Thin is bad. You want it very thick.

Put the cheddar cheese on top of the mixture, and then put the pie crust on top. (you can probably put 1/2" of biscuit batter on top instead but I haven't tried this yet.) Poke some holes in the crust and put the pan in the oven. Bake the bad boy for about 35 minutes at 350F, or until the pie crust is GB&D (golden brown and delicious). Remove the dish and allow it to rest for 5 minutes. When you slice into it, you will find that it has firmed up into something like a chicken pot pie, but a lot more dense and not at all soupy.

You can leave the pie crust and cheese topping off if you want, and it will basically be a tasty chicken casserole.