Marissa told me about a dish she and Jeff had at Hard Knox Cafe in San Francisco. Fried Chicken Pot Pie! OH MY, yes, please. I chose to not look up their version before coming up with a take on it myself.  As an added bonus, Connor asked if he could help me make dinner that night… What? Of course!

After Connor and I did our magic and we devoured the fruits of our labor, I Googled the Hard Knox menu and found that their recipe consists of boneless fried chicken, roasted pearl onions, potatoes, carrots, and herb gravy topped with a homemade puff pastry.  Sounded good, but I just know that ours was better! Our crust was out-of-this-world-amazing! Plus we did not have the carrots (Yay, no carrots!)  So amazing, in fact, that Connor wanted to make it again the very next night. Which I am a tiny bit embarrassed to tell you – we did! The second time around I added some roasted hot peppers to the filling for added color (OK, the only color) plus a bit of heat. Wonderful both ways!

You may notice from the photos that I made it in a pie dish. While creating the recipe, I’d planned on using a deep-dish pie pan, but could not find it when the time came to fill the pie. The dish I used was not deep enough and only held 1 quart. You need at least a 2-quart pan, so use an 8×8-inch square Pyrex pan if you too can’t fit or don’t have a deep-dish pie pan. You know how it goes… do as I say, not as I do.

This is rich, as you would expect, so serve with a big green salad. Trust me, it’s worth every ounce of guilt you may feel!  Plus we’ll make up for it on the upcoming Wednesday post with a super YUMMY and super healthy dish I created after hearing about some things we all should be eating according to Today Show Nutrition & Health Expert, Joy Bauer.

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