Pennsylvania Dutch Chicken Pot Pie
Not a pie. Squares of egg noodle dough — the “pot pies” — poached in saffron chicken broth with potatoes and celery. No crust has ever covered this dish. From Back to Basics (Abigail Gehring).
Ingredients
- 1 chicken, 3 to 3 ½ lb
- 2 ½ teaspoons salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
- 1 stalk celery, chopped
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- ½ teaspoon saffron
- 4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut in ½-inch slices
- 4 stalks celery, thinly sliced
- Chopped parsley
- 4 hard-cooked eggs, cut into wedges
Dough
- 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 to 6 tablespoons water
Instructions
Put the chicken in a 4-quart pot or Dutch oven with the salt, pepper, chopped celery, onion, and saffron. Add water to almost cover. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover, and simmer about an hour, until tender. Do not overcook.
Take the chicken out. Strain the broth, skim off as much fat as you can, and return the broth to the pot. When the chicken is cool, pull the meat off the bones in bite-size pieces and discard the skin and bones.
For the dough, put the flour in a bowl, make a well, and add the eggs and salt. Work the eggs into the flour, adding only enough water to make a soft dough that is not sticky. Knead 5 minutes, cover with a cloth, and rest 30 minutes on the board.
Halve the dough. Roll each half as thin as you can into a 15-inch square, then cut into 2-inch squares with a sharp knife or pastry wheel.
Add the potatoes and sliced celery to the broth and simmer 25 minutes, until tender. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper. Add the chicken and bring to a boil.
Slide the dough squares into the broth a few at a time, pushing them gently under. Cover tightly and simmer 20 minutes.
Ladle into large soup bowls and garnish with chopped parsley and wedges of hard-cooked egg.
Notes
Saffron is not decorative here — it is the signature of Pennsylvania Dutch cooking and carries the whole broth.
An older, tougher bird makes better broth than a young one. This dish was designed to use up a hen past laying.