Ham Pot Pie

My husband is a super "comfort foods fan." It only took me, like, 10 years together- 5 of those married- to figure this out. Don't get me wrong, Mike pretty much just enjoys food in general, but I tend to try for the exotic. It was only recently, when I made something that I would consider "boring" that he told me of his love for things that remind him of being a kid. Go figure, that's why I like ethnic foods or things with "pizazz;" my dad was a super experimental cook. This Pot Pie is something I had played with last year, and finally decided to write it down.



A great way to use up left overs... This is a super easy recipe and something that can even be prepared the night before. Typically, I use the lazy man's frozen crust, but this time around I looked up a really simple one online... http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Ruths-Grandmas-Pie-Crust/Detail.aspx. This was easiest to use with the dough WELL chilled.



1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup diced onion

2 tsp minced garlic

2 cups fresh or frozen peas and carrots (guess which route I went!)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp celery seed

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup cheddar soup (concentrated)

3 cups diced ham





In a large pan:



Melt butter over medium heat. Add in diced onion and sautee until soft. Add garlic. To butter mixture: combine flour, salt, pepper and celery seed. Mix well and allow flour to briefly cook. Afterward, add in chicken broth and soup. Stir, then allow mixture to come to a boil. Add peas, carrots and ham and allow to simmer. In a 9" pie pan, use one crust to fully line tin. Pour mixture over crust. Fill as much as possible- to heaping if you can. ( I had about a 1/4 cup of left over goodness) Cover with second crust and pinch down sides. Cut multiple slits in top to vent. This pie can then be stored in the fridge or baked immediately.



Preheat oven to 425



Bake for 30-40 min or until crust is golden brown and insides are nice and bubbly. If crust darkens too quickly, you can cover with foil. If the bubbliness gets out of control, place foil or a cookie sheet underneath pie tin to protect your oven. Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving then call your fatty, I mean husband, to dinner for some home cooked comfort food.