Prep: 45 minutes
Bake: 25 minutes
Serves: 6
4 strips bacon, sliced thinly crosswise
8 ounces button mushrooms, halved
1 onion, quartered and sliced
3 carrots, sliced into coins
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons port
2 cups shredded rotisserie chicken
3 ounces sugar snap peas, thinly sliced crosswise
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
5 tablespoons flour
3 cups chicken broth
1 Pinch nutmeg
Herb pastry (recipe follows) or prepared puff pastry,
1 egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water, optional
1. Sizzle: Cook bacon over medium-high heat in a large, heavy skillet until crisp, 10 minutes. Scoop out bacon bits with a slotted spoon; drain on a paper-towel lined plate.
2. Brown: Scrape mushrooms, onions and carrots to the skillet with the rendered bacon fat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms are beautifully browned, 10 minutes. Add garlic and thyme, cook 1 minute. Deglaze with port. Scrape into a large bowl. Stir in chicken and snap peas.
3. Thicken: Melt butter over medium heat (feel free to use the same skillet, but note that cast-iron will tint the sauce an odd gray). Whisk in flour, cook 1 minute. Slowly add broth, whisking thick, 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour sauce over chicken and mix.
4. Fill: Scrape chicken mixture into a deep 9-inch pie plate (or other oven-safe pan). Cast on bacon. Roll out pastry. Cover, crimp, vent. Brush with beaten egg (or don’t, for a more rustic look). Bake at 400 degrees until top is crisp and middle bubbles, 25 minutes. Enjoy warm.
Herb Pastry: Measure 1 cup flour, 2 tablespoons fine corn meal, 1 teaspoon fresh thyme (or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme) and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt into the food processor. Buzz to mix. Add 5 tablespoons unsalted butter (cut up) and 4 tablespoons vegetable shortening. Pulse until mixture looks crumbly and darkens a bit. Turn out into a large mixing bowl. Drizzle with up to 3 tablespoons cold water, folding with aflexible spatula until pastry clumps easily. Press into a disk, wrap in waxed paper and chill while prepping pie (at least 30 minutes).