The Perfect Pot Pie Is Homemade

Imagine chunks of chicken and vegetables in a smooth, herb sauce. Add a golden, flaky crust. It’s the all-time great comfort food: chicken pot pie.

Don’t look to your freezer case for the perfect pot pie; what you’ll get there is about as soggy as a spring shower.

And, as delicious as it is, it’s a home-style dish that restaurants rarely feature. This is one dinner you’ll have to make to appreciate.

The traditional recipe, with a pastry crust and filling, is more time-consuming and requires more effort than many cooks can afford on weeknights, so I created a delicious version using phyllo dough. You’ll find this paper-thin dough in the freezer case of your supermarket.

Phyllo dough is a wonder: You can thaw it, remove a couple of sheets for the pot pie and refreeze the remainder. (Use the leftovers and follow the same technique for fruit tarts.) Just fold, butter and shape the dough into a cup. It’s crisp and light.

The filling is as easy as … well, pie. Full-flavored chicken thighs are browned in butter, combined with leek and dill and baked in the crust until bubbly.

Chicken Pot Pie In Phyllo

6 ounces (1 cup) sugar snap peas, trimmed and sliced into 1-inch lengths

3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon butter

1 leek, trimmed and washed, white part only, cut into small dice

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup hot chicken broth

1/2 tablespoon minced fresh dill

Salt, pepper

2 sheets phyllo dough

Blanch sugar snap peas in boiling water 1 minute. Drain well and set aside.

Melt 2 tablespoons butter in medium pan. Add leek to butter and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Add chicken pieces and cook just to get rid of pink color, about 5 minutes. Stir in flour and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened.

Add hot broth and cook and stir until thickened. Stir in dill, sugar snap peas and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer 5 minutes. Turn off heat and set aside while preparing phyllo crust.

Melt remaining 4 teaspoons butter. Using 1 phyllo sheet at a time, fold in half widthwise and brush with butter. Fold again to 6- by 8-inch rectangle. Brush again with butter.

Fit phyllo into mini-souffle dish or cup that measures 4 inches across. Arrange phyllo in dish to create as large a space as possible for filling. Press dough against edges of dish. Repeat process with remaining sheet of dough.

Spoon chicken mixture into both dishes, patting it down to get as much chicken into each dish as possible. Place dishes on small baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees until phyllo is golden and chicken is tender and bubbly, about 25 minutes. Remove from oven. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.

Yield: 2 servings.

Note: Instead of making crust, chicken mixture could be served over hot cooked rice or with boiled potatoes.

MEMO: Bev Bennett is food editor of the Chicago Sun-Times and author of four cookbooks.