Sunday's Recipe Share -- Gluten free, grain free Chicken Pot Pie

I had a very busy weekend, so I missed Friday and Saturday, but I didn't want to miss out in sharing this recipe with you.  I made these individual pot pies last week.  I've tried making a couple of different grain free pastry crusts and was not happy with the results.  Well, these are delicious!  I'm going to try making a sweet pie with this crust recipe--stay tuned for the results.

Here's the recipe:

Crust

1-⅓ c almond flour

½ c coconut flour

½ t. salt

2 eggs, whisked

10 T butter or coconut oil frozen

Filling

8 T butter or olive oil (I used a mix of the two)

1 c. diced carrots

1 med onion, diced (1 c.)

1 c chopped green beans (fresh or frozen and thawed)

2 celery stalks diced (1 c.)

1 t. salt + more if needed

½ t black pepper + more if needed

½ c arrowroot flour (or tapioca--I used tapioca starch/flour)

1 can full fat coconut milk

3 c. chicken broth, warm

1 T dried parsley

1 t. dried thyme

3 c. shredded or chunked cooked chicken

1 egg white

2 t water

Preheat oven to 400.

Make the crust: Combine 1st 3 ingredients in a food processor, pulse 4-5 times or til combined.  Add the eggs and blend until smooth--15 to 20 seconds.  Take butter from freezer and shred using a cheese grater.  Add half the grated butter to the processor, process for 10 seconds.  Add the other half and pulse a few times to just barely combine (small pieces of butter should be visible).  Remove this from the processor and divide into 4 equal pieces.  Press each piece into a ball and wrap individually with plastic wrap. I placed them into individual baggies.  Place in fridge to chill.

Make the filling:  Melt the butter in a large pot over med. heat.  Add the next 3 ingredients and cook for 5 minutes or until the onions become translucent. Add the celery and cook about 3-5 minutes more.

In a small bowl, mix together the salt, pepper and flour and then sprinkle it over the vegetable mixture.  Stir until the flour is mixed in well--about 2 mins.  Pour in the coconut milk and broth and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to med. and simmer until the mixture thickens to the consistency of gravy, about 10 mins. Add the parsley, thyme and chicken and simmer an additional 5-10 min. Season to taste with more salt and pepper if needed.

Assemble the pies:  Spoon filling into 4 12 oz measure cups/ramekins, filling them all the way to the top.  Remove the dough from the fridge and roll each ball between 2 pieces of parchment until it is just wider than the top of the baking dish (about ¼ inch thick).  Tip--I rolled the dough out right inside the plastic bag and then used a scissor to cut the bag down the middle to get the piece of dough out--it did not stick at all. Gently place the rolled dough over the top of each dish and press down the sides.  Whisk the egg whites and water in a small bowl.  Brush a thin coat of this over the entire crust.  Cut slits in the top of the crust to let steam escape.

Place pies on a jelly roll pan and bake for 15-20 minutes or til the tops are golden brown.  Remove from oven, let cool for 10-15 min. before serving. This is really important because that filling is HOT!