You can't go wrong with classic, humble, and very homey dish like this delicious chicken pot pie. The pastry is deliciously flaky and crumbly, the filling is so fragrant, smooth and silky, like it should be. This recipe comes from Tyler florence's Family Style Chicken Pot pie, which I think is the best one to suit my taste. The other thing I like about his recipe is, he doesn't need to add any buillion to it, instead he relies on fresh herbs, such as rosemary, thyme, and bay leaves. In addition to this, I added marjoram, orageno, leftover Italian parsley (you know, the end part that you would normally throw in the garbage). You might think that the flavor will be over powering right? Actually not really, it gives  more fragrant broth, just the way I like it. Dare to say, I am pretty satisfied with this recipe, like I always do with all Tyler's recipes I've tried.

Chicken Pot Pie
recipe adapted from Tyler Florence's Family Style Chicken Pot Pie
serve 8 - 10

For the pastry:
41/2 cups flour
2 cups (4 sticks/16 oz) cold  unsalted butter, cut into large pieces
salt
3/4 ice cold water, as needed

Place flour, butter, and salt in a food processor. Pulse a few seconds until the mixture resemble coarse crumbs. Add ice cold water, pulse again until the mixture almost comes together. To test if the pastry is ready, squeeze small amount of dough, if its stick together, the pastry is ready. If its still crumbly, add more water a tablespoon at a time. Gather the dough, flatten into a disk, wrap with plastic, refrigerate.

The Chicken Broth:
1 (4 - 5 pounds) chicken. I used 3 cornish hens weight about 1.25 pounds each
3 carrots, cut into 2-inch long
3 celery ribs, cut into 2-inch long
1 onion, peeled - halved
1 head of garlic, halved - horizontally
1 turnips, halved
4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 sprigs of rosemary
2 sprigs of marjoram
1 sprigs of oregano
1 bay leave
handfull of Italian parsley

For the pot pie:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1/2 cup all-purposed flour
3 carrots, chopped
3 celery, chopped (Tyler's recipe use pearl onions)
1 cup green peas
1 clove garlic, minced
8 sprigs of thymes
1 sprig rosemary, scrape
1 bay leave
zest of 1 lemon

For egg wash :
1 egg yolk + 2 tbs water = mix well

To make chicken broth: Place all ingredients for chicken broth in a soup or stock pot, add 3 quarts of water to cover the chicken, bring to a boil. As soon as its boil, turn the heat down to low, and simmer for 1 hour. Skim the yucky stuff that float on the surface as often as possible. Take out the chicken and place it on a plate, strain the broth and discard the solid.  You should end up with 2 quarts of broth. Cool at room temperature. When the chicken is  cool enough to handle, separate the meat from the bone, and discard skin as well. Cut the meat into pieces. Set aside. 

To make the roux: melt the butter over medium low heat, add flour, stirring constantly using a hand whisk  until it changes color to a light brown. Gradually add  the chicken broth, keep whisking while you do this to prevent any lumps. Simmer for about 5 to 10 minutes until the raw smell of the flour disappear. Add chopped carrots, celery, thyme, rosemary, bay leaves, lemon zest. Stir to combine. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Then add chicken pieces, season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Remove from the heat, discard rosemary, thyme, and bay leaf if desire. Cool at room temperature. This sauce will be quite thick as it cools down.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Butter an individual oven proof bowl. Depending on the size of bowl you have, you might end up with 8 to 10 individual bowls. Set aside. 

Sprinkle a little bit of flour on kitchen counter top. Roll out the pastry to about 1/8 - inch thick. Cut a few circles as needed, a little bit large then the size of  your individual bowl.  Fill each bowl about 3/4 of the way with the chicken filling. Top with pastry circle, press the edge around the rim to seal. Repeat.

Brush the pastry with egg wash. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden.