Ina Garten-Inspired Chicken Pot Pie

Compiled by Igor Kukolj, Editor. Nobody here has cooked this — how these are made.

The bake is for the pastry. That is the sentence that fixes most pot pies.

Under a sealed lid there is no browning, no evaporation and no direct heat — raw chicken and raw vegetables simply steam in their own liquid, and they come out grey, watery and bland. The filling has to be finished before it goes into the dish: the chicken roasted, the vegetables softened, the sauce thickened and seasoned to the point where you would happily eat it with a spoon. Then the pastry goes on and the oven does one job, which is to cook it.

Taste the filling before the lid goes on. If it is not good then, it will not be good later.

Make the sauce thicker than you want it

The vegetables and chicken keep releasing a little liquid under the crust, and a sauce that was perfect in the pan is thin by the time it reaches the table. Take it a stage further than looks right — it should coat a spoon heavily and barely move in the pan.

Cool the filling before the pastry goes on

Warm filling melts the butter in the pastry from below before the oven can turn its water into steam, so the base of the lid goes greasy and dense instead of puffing. Spread the filling on a tray to cool it quickly if you are short of time.

Cut vents, and make them real

Two decent slashes, not pinpricks. Steam has to get out; trapped underneath it lifts the pastry away from the filling and leaves a raw, doughy layer on the underside. It also boils the filling and pushes it out at the edges.

Storing

Three days. The pastry never fully recovers, so if you are making it ahead, refrigerate the cooled filling separately for up to two days and add fresh pastry before baking.