I always forget how much I love pot pie. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of blah pot pies out there, but I think I’ve hit on the key over the last couple of years: always overstuff the filling, and brown the butter in the sauce.

This particular pot pie grew out of a desire to try out the leeks I have growing in my garden and to use up stuff in my refrigerator and freezer. Oh, goodness, it was tasty. This combination of vegetables and seasonings is a winner, and I can highly recommend it if you’re bored by the thought of regular old chicken pot pie (and even if you aren’t). It takes a little time to put together, but it’s worth the effort. This particular combination of vegetables maintains a fresh, late-season-gardeny flavor that is much different from its typical stick-to-your-bones wintery pot pie cousin.

Also, my newly-acquired lard made its debut in this pie crust, and guys, there may be no going back. It’s pretty hard to feel guilty about the unhealthy factor when just a third of a cup of lard makes a double crust that is this flavorful and flaky. I am not ashamed.

We won’t talk about how quickly this pie disappeared, and how little {none} of it we shared.

 

Fall Harvest Pot Pie – made 11/16/15

Special equipment: deep dish pie pan—you’ll need it to hold all this filling!

1 recipe for double pie crust (I highly recommend using half lard, half butter for your fat content)
2 medium leeks, white and tender light green portions, washed well and sliced
1 carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 red potato, diced
1 c. corn (I used frozen)
1 ½ c. kale, chopped small
1/2 c. cherry tomatoes, sliced in halves
2 c. cooked meat, i.e., turkey, chicken, ham (We used ½ chicken, ½ ham. I think it would be great with just ham!), chopped or shredded
5 Tbsp. butter, divided
½ c. butter
1 ½ c. milk
2 c. chicken broth
1-2 Tbsp. sherry
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add leeks and sauté until soft and transparent, about 5 minutes. Add carrot, celery, and potato, and continue to cook for an additional 7-8 minutes, until the vegetables are just beginning to soften. Add corn, kale, tomatoes, and meat, and cook 3-5 minutes further, until kale turns dark green.

In a separate saucepan (at least 4-cup capacity), brown the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter over medium or low-medium heat.* Add flour, stirring and cooking an additional minute. Whisk in the milk and chicken broth. Bring to a simmer, then allow to simmer another minute or so until the sauce thickens up. Add the sherry, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Add sauce to vegetable-meat filling, and stir to combine.

Prepare the bottom pie crust in a deep dish pie pan. Pour in the filling, then apply the top crust, sealing and crimping the edges. Cut vent holes in the top crust.

Bake the pie for 30 minutes, until crust is set and begins to brown slightly, and the filling begins to bubble.

* If you’ve never browned butter before, I recommend using a pan with a light – colored bottom so that you can see when it begins to turn. Let the butter melt and then continue to heat over medium temperature until it turns a caramel-y brown color with little bits of sediment in the bottom of the pan. Be careful, though—you want a nice golden brown, but it’s easy to go too far and burn it. I often pull the pan off the heat for a minute once I have the color I want, so as to stop the heating process more quickly.