You know how I have issues with having too much food? It happened again. This time with rotisserie chicken. I had gotten waaaaay too much rotisserie chicken (i.e. two) for the number of people who came over for dinner one time and ended up with 1.25 chickens leftover. I like rotisserie chicken, but not enough to eat 1.25 birds by myself. I’m sure the dogs would have appreciated it if I gave them a whole bird, but they’re (read: Horse) getting too fat as it is. What do? Make individually sized chicken pot pies.
Of course, you don’t have to make individual ones. But since it’s just me eating these things, I like to have them portioned already. I could make a normal sized pie and then cut and store…but then I’d have to cut and store. I have 1209310293 wide mouth 8oz mason jars. Might as well use them.
The filling was all the chicken I had left over, random frozen vegetables, some butter and flour to make a roux, random spices I had on hand (thyme maybe some poultry seasoning, salt, pepper), and chicken stock. I heated that through to make sure the sauce thickened and then distributed it evenly to 7 jars. The crust was provided by my now defunct local Fresh and Easy (tear). I picked up some puff pastry at a discount in their final days. I just used one of the lid rings to punch circles out of the puff pastry and tuck the circles in over the filling. I topped them with an egg wash, let them cool completely, and then stuffed them all in the freezer.
I’ve never tried doing an egg wash before freezing before. I was curious how the egg would turn out after a freeze and defrost. It seems to be ok. But if you ever freeze hard boiled eggs, the texture of the egg after it’s defrosted is really gross (my mother tried it once). Soooo…don’t do it.
To heat them, I put them on a sheet pan into the oven preheated to 425degF directly and bake until bubbly, about 30min. No need to defrost first. I’ve never had an issue with a mason jar shattering. I think it could happen if you tried to put a mason jar from the freezer directly onto a preheated oven rack though. Anyway, it’s easier to move them around when they’re on a sheet pan.
Random moosages as I see fit. 