Chicken Pie from scratch

When I was newly married and living on campus with my husband, I enjoyed wandering around the library when I had time in between classes.  In those days, the University library was in an older building filled with shelves of books dating back a long time.  I loved to pull out random books and spend some time perusing them.  One day I pulled out an old cookbook called The Tollhouse Cookbook.  It was full of comfort food recipes from the the tollhouse restaurant which invented the famous cookies.  When I saw this recipe for chicken pie I immediately wanted to make it for my new husband, so I pulled out my notebook and wrote it down.  It was a hit the first time I made it - maybe it's because of this chicken pie that he has stayed with me for another 30 years.

While my chicken was simmering this afternoon, I wondered if it would be possible to find that old cookbook again.  So I searched on Amazon, and lo and behold there it was! Of course I couldn't resist ordering it.  I'm guessing it will have more recipes that I will want to share.  I changed the original recipe a bit to suit our tastes (added the carrots and seasoning).  My family loves this.  I bet yours will too!

Chicken Pie

Pastry for double crust pie

1 whole chicken

3 stalks celery

1/2 onion

4 carrots

4 Tablespoons butter, melted

4 Tablespoons flour

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon marjoram

• Disjoint the chicken and place in a pan with 3 cups of water, the celery and onion, and a couple of carrots.  Cover and cook until the meat is ready to drop from the bones.
• Remove the chicken from the liquid, saving the stock but straining out the vegetables. Remove the skin and bones and cut chicken into good-sized pieces. Set aside.
• Cut up remaining carrots and cook them until tender. Set aside.
• Line deep dish pie pan with pastry, roll out top crust and set aside in readiness.
• Blend together the butter, flour, salt, pepper and marjoram. Add the hot chicken stock that the chicken was cooked in (2 cups).  Cook until thickened - this will only take a couple of minutes.  Add the cooked carrots.
• Arrange the chicken on the pastry in the pie pan.  Pour sauce over chicken, then cover with top crust.  Flute edges and cut steam vents in top crust.
• Bake at 450 degrees until the crust is brown and the sauce bubbles.