Chicken & Bacon Pot Pie

6 slices bacon, diced

3 carrots, peeled, cut in half lengthwise, then sliced (about 1 1/4 C. sliced carrots)

1 medium onion, diced (about 1 1/4 C. diced onion)

2 stalks of celery, sliced (about 1 C. sliced celery)

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 C. frozen peas

4 tsp. butter

4 tsp. flour

2 C. chicken broth

1/3 C. heavy cream

2 C. cooked, shredded chicken

BACON CHEDDAR BISCUITS

3 slices bacon, diced

1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

6 tsp. butter, cut into small pieces

3/4 C. shredded cheddar cheese

3/4 C. heavy cream

1 tsp. butter, melted

 

Preheat the oven to 400ºF. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. Drain the bacon grease from the skillet, leaving about 1 tsp. in the skillet. Return to the heat and add the carrots, onion and celery and cook until softened, about 5-8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add in the peas and cook for an additional minute. Season with salt and pepper, then pour the vegetable mixture into a 9×13-inch baking dish. Set aside. Return the skillet to the heat and melt the butter over medium heat. Sprinkle in the flour and whisk for a minute. Slowly whisk in the chicken broth. Continue to cook until the mixture starts to bubble and become thick. Once the consistency of cream, stir in the heavy cream and cook an additional minute. Stir in the reserved bacon and the chicken. Pour the mixture over the vegetables in the dish. Cover with foil while you make the biscuits. In a small skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove to a paper towel lined plate and set aside. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the butter, and with a fork or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the cheddar cheese and the bacon. Add the cream and stir just until combined. Dust a work surface with flour and pour the mixture out onto it. Knead a few times, just until the mixture comes together. Roll the dough out to about 1/3” thick. Using a round cutter, about 3” in diameter, cut out 9-12 biscuits. (I don’t like to re-roll the scraps as they can become tough, so I will just bake the scraps on a separate baking sheet to let the kids eat.) Uncover the pot pie mixture and place the biscuits on top. Bake the until the pot pie is bubbly and the biscuits have started to brown, about 20-25 minutes. If the biscuits start to get too brown, cover the dish with foil. Remove from the oven. As soon as the dish comes out of the oven, brush the melted butter on top of the biscuits. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes before serving.