Why Duck Pot Pie?
Duck is such a versatile and flavorful ingredient, usable for many applications from simple ones (Tacos) to the utterly complex (Peking Duck). Today’s recipe for Duck Pot Pie falls on the less complex side of the scale. Pot pies in general are a great comfort food. The flaky crust paired with the velvety savory filling, peppered with sweet vegetables, is an all star dish that can easily be modified to fit your tastes. I personally enjoy pot pies in cooler fall / winter months as it can be a hearty and filling offering.
How did we get here? Duck Confit Sparked the Idea of Pot Pies
A while back I stumbled across a package of pre-made duck confit in the refrigerated section of my local grocery store. For those who are curious, confiting is a preservation technique used more extensively before modern refrigeration. Confiting utilizes a significant amount of fat as the preservation medium as the bacteria cannot survive in such heavy fat. For duck specifically, this technique involves cooking the duck legs and thighs in fat at a low temperature for many hours until the legs begin to break down.
With all that said, modern convenience affords us many luxuries, premade duck confit luckily is one of them. That being said, if you are so inclined to try a duck confit recipe yourself there are many out there. The folks at serious eats have an interesting method using a sous vide cooking technique.
Once I picked up the duck confit in store, I immediately began to think what can be done with this?! Since I didn’t have much familiarity with recipes utilizing duck confit, I thought about recipes that use store bought rotisserie chicken as a base. I figured they would be a fair proxy for each other since they are both pre-cooked poultry items . The first recipe that came to mind was Duck Pot Pie so I began to gather the other ingredients for a quick recipe. The one I have in mind used a premade pie crust or puff pastry as the topping to help further reduce complexity.
Preparation Notes
Consider the following when crafting your pot pies.
Protein Choices
Crust / Cooking Vessel Situation
Vegetable Options
Flavorful Broths
Protein Choices
First select your protein. My go to protein is typically a rotisserie chicken as they are almost always affordable and delicious. In fact stores often use these products as “loss leaders” to drive traffic to their business. Aside from chicken you can really use any shredded protein you like.
Crust / Cooking Vessel
Next we need to think about the crust and cooking vessel options. Pot pies can either be made with a bottom and top crust or just a top crust. I personally like the top crust only method as the bottom crust can be trickier to successfully pull off and can become too soggy. For the crust, you can utilize store bought puff pastry or pie crust. Puff pastry is probably a better option, but I had some pie crust on hand and went with that in my recipe. We also want to consider cooking vessels. Pot pie is great because it can really be made in any oven safe dish. You can portion it into smaller ramekins and individually top each one for perfect portion sizes or you can put into a large dish that you can portion out family style. The choice is yours!
Vegetable Options
We also want to consider vegetable options in the pot pie. I often go for a couple root vegetables (again think fall and winter hearty meals). This is typically Onions, carrots, and sometimes parsnips. You can also use rutabaga, celery root, too as these hold up well to cooking. I have seen some recipes with potatoes as well. Sweeter vegetables are a great compliment to the savory meat and broth. I usually add some frozen peas too to round it out. You can use fresh peas but I have found there is little degradation in quality with frozen peas.
Flavorful Broths
Finally think about the broth. Chicken broth will work very well with poultry options, but if you choose to use other protein in your pot pie I would recommend using a broth that aligns with your choice. For example, if you are using shredded beef, a beef broth might be a better fit. Also, when it comes to the brothy filling we want it to be thick , which is why we utilize the flour. However, if you find that your broth is not as thick as you want it, there is the option to add a tiny bit of cornstarch to help achieve your desired thickness.
With these concepts in mind, you are ready to make your pot pie!
Taste Verdict
You may be asking yourself, is going through the trouble of tracking down duck confit worth it to make this Duck Pot Pie? My answer to that is a resounding yes! The extra fatiness from the shredded duck confit added so much flavor to the pot pie. This was hands down my favorite poultry based pot pie I have ever had. If you can find duck confit at your grocer I highly recommend trying it out. With all that said, you can make yourself a perfectly delicious and comforting pot pie using a store bought rotisserie chicken without any fear of judgement from me.
I hope you try this recipe out and make yourself the delicious comfort food that you deserve!
Duck Confit Pot Pie
Equipment
- Casserole Dish, or multiple ramekins
- Large saute pan
- Measuring Cups
- Measuring Spoons
- Knife
- Cutting board
- Wooden spoon
- Rolling Pin
- Medium bowl
Ingredients
- 1 lb Pre-Cooked Duck Confit or meat from rotisserie chicken
- 1 medium onions
- 0.5 lbs parsnips
- 0.5 lbs carrots
- 1/4 cup chopped parsley
- 1/2 Tbsp. thyme leaves
- 1.5 Tbsp. unsalted butter
- 1 tsp. kosher salt
- 1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
- 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour plus more for surface
- 2 cups chicken stock
- 1 tsp Cornstarch optional
- 5 oz. frozen peas
- 1 box puff pastry or pie crust thawed overnight
Instructions
- Preheat oven to to 400℉
- Shred pre-cooked Duck confit or rotisserie chicken and let cool to room temperature.
- Dice the onions. Add butter to a saute pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook until translucent. This should take a few minutes
- Meanwhile, dice parsnip, carrots, garlic and put into a mixing bowl. In a measuring cup, and add thyme to chicken stock.
- Add parsnip and carrots mixture to pan with onions and cook for a few minutes until they begin to soften, add salt and pepper.
- Add flour and cook for 30 seconds.
- Add chicken stock and peas and bring to simmer for 3-4 minutes stirring occasionally. Add optional cornstarch if desired.
- Roll out pie crust or puff pastry until there is about 1 inch overhang beyond the sides of the casserole or ramekin.
- Scoop filling from saute pan into the casserole or ramekin.
- Roll out pie crust on top of pie tray and trim edges.
- Use a knife and slit top of pot pie a few times with 1 inch cuts to release steam during cooking.
- Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, drop heat to 350℉ and bake another 20-25 minutes (until the crust is well browned).
- Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy!!