Lemony Chicken Pot Pie with Parsley Biscuit Crust

I'm falling behind on the whole blogging thing again. I have been cooking and baking and doing all of that fun stuff quite a lot lately, but can never seem to remember to actually post about it, which is sad because I'm making some good stuff. Like this awesome pot pie casserole. There are two parts that will bother Aaron and Renai respectively. Part one, to bother Aaron, is that I loved chopping the parsley for the biscuits. It smells so good and I think I just like chopping parsley in general.

Part two, to bother Renai, is my removal of the fennel from the original recipe. I am just not a huge licorice fan and though I do like a little bit of fennel in my Italian sausages, that's usually about as far as it goes. Yeah, I don't like star anise either. My palate has grown quite a lot, but I'm just not into it.

Anyway, my version of this recipe is tasty because I'm sure the original was tasty too. I followed the suggestions on the original pages and added in spinach and carrots and, of course, upped the garlic a bit. Either way, this is sure to keep you warm inside.

Oh, I also call BS on the 40 minute time frame. This sucker took a long time because there's a lot of prep involved. I might not be the fastest prep cook in the world, but this would take anyone a bit of time to get together. Plus, the baking time alone is 40 minutes. So there.

Lemony Chicken Pot Pie with Parsley Biscuit Crust modified from Serious Eats:

Serves 6

For the biscuit topping:
1¼ c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
¼ c. fresh flat-leaf parsley, very finely chopped
¼ c. unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces
½ c. milk

For the chicken:
2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
¼ c. all-purpose flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Olive oil
1 large onion, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
1½ lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into ½” chunks
2 c. carrots, cut into chunks
3 c. fresh spinach
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 c. dry white wine
2 c. veggie broth
2/3 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 400°F and lightly grease the baking dish with olive oil.

Prepare the biscuit dough. Mix the flour in a medium bowl with the baking powder, salt, and parsley. Cut in the cold butter and work it in with your fingers or a pastry blender until the flour mixture resembles soft bread crumbs. Add the milk, stirring just until the dough comes together. Set aside.

Cut the chicken breasts into large bite-size pieces. Toss the pieces in a bowl with the flour and 1 teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Set aside.

Heat a generous drizzle of olive oil in a large Dutch oven or sauté pan over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot enough to sizzle when a drop of water is flicked in, add the chicken and brown for about 6 minutes, turning halfway through. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Reduce the heat to medium. Add the onion, carrots, spinach, and garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes, or until they start to turn tender and fragrant. Add the potatoes and turn the heat up a little. Sauté the potatoes for a few minutes with the onion, then add the lemon zest, lemon juice, and wine and bring to a simmer, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Add the broth and chicken, and season the stew with about 1 teaspoon of salt and plenty of black pepper.

 Spread the stew in the prepared baking dish. Drop the biscuit dough on top in 6 to 8 evenly spaced mounds and sprinkle the Parmesan cheese over the top. Bake, uncovered, for about 40 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and the biscuit topping is golden. Serve hot.

I really, really loved this. I wasn't sure my Le Creuset could handle the volume, but it worked beautifully. The only other thing I'd change would be to double the biscuit topping to cover the whole stew. They are really awesome biscuits and deserve more attention.