Chicken Pot Pie with Pinto Bean Crust

2

YIELD: 10 shells for French onion soup bowls

Pie dough crust

As needed: all-purpose flour (for dusting)

Pot pie filling

1 kg	chicken meat, cooked and diced into 3/4-inch cubes
1 L	chicken stock or flavourful broth, heated
100 g	butter or margarine
75 g	all-purpose flour
50 g	pinto bean flour
500 ml	milk, hot
500 g	mushrooms, quartered
175 g	onion, fine dice
20 ml	garlic, fine mince
100 g	butter or margarine
45 ml	basil leaves, fresh, course chop
150 ml	white wine
to taste	salt and pepper
15 ml	tabasco sauce
20 ml	Worcestershire sauce
	Half lemon
500 ml	whip cream, scalded
500 ml	frozen peas, thawed
1	large red pepper, 1/2 inch diced and blanched

Dough

Cut the shortening into small pieces and scatter on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Place in the freezer for 40 minutes to completely chill the shortening.
Sift the two flours, sugar, and salt into a large stainless-steel bowl. Using your fingers (or pastry knife), crumble/cut the chilled shortening into the flour mixture until coarse crumbs are formed. Pour in water and quickly/lightly form the dough.
Place the dough onto a parchment-lined pan and press to about 1 1/2 inches thick. Cover completely with cling film and let rest in a refrigerator for a 1/2 hour.
Remove the dough from the fridge. Scale the dough off to 90 g balls.
Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a worktable and dust with all-purpose flour. Place one ball on the paper and dust with the all-purpose flour. Place a second sheet of parchment on top and roll the dough out. Roll a bit on one side, flip the dough over, lift the top sheet off, and lightly dust. Flip the dough over again, lift the other sheet off, and dust again.
Keep rolling and repeating the dusting procedure above until the dough is approximately 1/8 of an inch thick.
Repeat with the remaining balls of dough.
Cover again with cling film and refrigerate the disks for another 20-30 minutes.

Filling

In a 10-inch, non–stick sauté pan, add 100 g of butter and sauté the onions and garlic until tender. Add the mushrooms. Continue to sauté until the mushrooms develop a caramel colour. Season the mushrooms with salt and pepper to taste. Add the white wine and cook until the wine has reduced until nearly dry (au sec). Add the basil and remove from the heat.
In a 7-quart heavy-bottom saucepan, melt 100 g of butter. Add the two flours and cook over low-medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
Gradually blend the heated chicken stock into the white/blond roux (cooked flour butter mixture) along with your milk and stir. Whisk the mixture using a wire whisk (only if your saucepan is stainless steel) to remove any lumps. Simmer for 2-3 minutes and remove from the heat. Add the whipping cream, tabasco, Worcestershire, and lemon juice. Check for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
Add the cooked chicken meat, cooked pinto beans, peas, and red pepper. Remove from heat. Chill completely, cover with cling film once chilled, and refrigerate until needed.

Pot pie

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Divide the filling evenly between 10 French onion soup bowls. Brush the lip of each soup bowl with egg wash. Cover each soup bowl with a round lid of pie crust, cut a hole in the middle to vent. Crimp the edges.
Place the soup bowls on a sheet pan and bake on the lowest rack for approximately 30 minutes or until the crust is golden. Remove from the oven and let rest for 2 minutes before eating.

Note: Cooked pinto beans can be added to the filling for extra pulse consumption.