Crab Pot Pie

I don't often watch Paula Deen on TV. I find her slightly grating. I don't know why; I just do. There's also the fact that just watching her cook makes me fatter. For whatever reason, one afternoon a couple weeks ago I put on an episode of her show, and she was making crab pot pie. That's not something I'd ever considered before. Chicken or turkey, sure, but crab? How have I not thought of this?

I used Paula's recipe more as an idea and a jumping off point than as any sort of guide. This recipe actually more closely resembles Justin's mom's chicken pot pie recipe, though it's not directly based on that either. Basically, Justin and I sat down and said, what vegetables are required for pot pie and what vegetables would be tasty with crab? From there we narrowed it down to those included in this recipe. If I made it again, I don't think I'd change a thing (other than to maybe use an egg wash on the pie crust to make it come out more golden brown). It was really weird for the first few bites, but once I got over the expectation of poultry flavors, I really liked this.

Depending on what kind of container you use to bake the pot pie, the amount of pie crust you'll need will vary. I baked mine in four, ceramic mini-loaf pans, which required one pie crust to cover the tops. However, some of the filling didn't fit in those pans, so I put the extra in a pie pan and covered it with another pie crust. If you just put it all in a deep dish pie pan in the first place, you could get away with using just the one crust. If you use small ramekins, you may even need a third crust to be able to cover all of them, depending on how much filling each ramekin holds.


Ingredients 4 large white potatoes
6 tbsp butter or margarine, divided
1/4 c sliced baby carrots
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 c diced onion
2/3 c diced mushrooms
4 tbsp flour
1/2 c chicken broth
1 1/2 c milk
15 oz can yellow corn, drained
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
8 oz lump crabmeat, drained
1+ refrigerated pie crust


Directions

Peel and dice the potatoes, and place in a large pot of water. Boil until cooked through, about 30 minutes. Drain, and set aside.

Melt 2 tbsp butter in a pot over medium heat. Add baby carrots and thyme, and sauté 3-4 minutes. Add onion and cook an additional 2 minutes. Add mushrooms and sauté 1 minute. Add remaining 4 tbsp butter to pan and allow to melt, stirring well. Whisk in flour. Slowly mix in chicken broth and milk, whisking vigorously to eliminate any lumps of flour. Cook 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add corn, drained potatoes, salt, and pepper, and heat through. Gently fold in crabmeat.

Cut ventilation holes in pie crust. Spoon filling into desired baking dish(es) and top with ventilated pie crust. Bake at 350 until crust is golden brown, 25-35 minutes.


Servings: 6


Recipe adapted from Paula's Best Dishes.