Union Elementary School's Chicken Pot Pie

Back in the day, Union Elementary School in Lincolnton, NC, had the best chicken pot pie (CPP) in the world.  When they had they annual CPP dinner, tickets would sell out in minutes.  Students' grandparents would fly in to Charlotte-Douglass airport just to come and eat this stuff.

The recipe, I guess, was secret, and that bothered me for many years.  However, I decided to sit down and do an autopsy of the Union CPP.  What would the cafeteria staff have at hand?  Well, water, flour, lard, leftover chicken, frozen vegetables, and either chicken soup or condensed chicken soup.  The youngest of the cafeteria staff back then would be 70 years old, so there had to be some grandma going on with cooking the CPP.  Ergo, I went to my great-great-grandmother's cookbook to review what was probably the most important part of the CPP...the crust!  Putting all of this together, I concocted a CPP that, to me, tastes like the Union CPP of old!

Recipe for the crust:

• 1.5 cups of all-purpose flour;
• 1/4 cup of cold water;
• 1/2 cup of lard;
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt and throw in a wee bit of black pepper.

Recipe for the guts:

• One can of cream of chicken soup and one can of milk;
• 2 cups of frozen mixed vegetables;
• 2 cups of roasted chicken that has been pulled into pieces;
• A shot of hot sauce;
• A small shake of dried thyme leaves;
• A wee bit of cornstarch that has been whisked into 1/3 cup of water, for thickening.

Turn on your oven to 425 degrees F.

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl.  Turn on the mixer and cut in the lard a little bit at a time until it starts to look grainy.  Add the salt/pepper and gradually add the water until you have a smooth, balled-up mess.  Cut the ball into half.  On a floured surface, roll out the dough until it is big enough to cover the top of whatever pie pan you are using.  With the other half, roll it out big enough to line the inside of the pie pan.

Put all the guts together into a pot and warm it up until almost boiling, then turn off the heat and let it set.   Rub the inside of the pie pan with butter and line it with one piece of flattened dough.  Place this in the oven for about 5 minutes to allow the crust to bake.  After 5 minutes, open the oven and pour in the guts.  Then place the other part of the dough on top, cutting the edges to make it look pretty, and seal it to the pie pans outer edge with your fingers.  Make a few cuts in the upper crust to allow the steam to come out.  Bake for about 40 minutes or until you see the guts bubbling from either out of the cuts or from around the sides of the pan.  Don't let the crust bake too much.  You want to see a light brown crust.  Take out the CPP and let it rest for 20 minutes.  Then dive on it!

I bet this will take you back to your elementary school days, when the air was filled with smells of biscuits, CPP, and innocence.