Earl Cooks Pi Day Pie ℼ

I love the symbolism of Pi Day. A reference to circles, their circumference, and their diameters, it now has become the infinite string of prime numbers and a great way to celebrate Pies, our best circular food! Pizza Pies, Cheesecakes (pies really), Pot Pies, and any food pie you like. This year, I chose to make a chicken pot pie. But as you may know, I don't bake. I thought of making a cast iron skillet strudel, which I have made before, and it is circular, but I had a flash of inspiration (not always a good sign), and thought I would make a Chicken Pot Pie. How, you may ask, can I do that without a lot of mixing and measuring? Tortillas, that's how. I would turn a refrigerated, uncooked, tortilla into a pie crust! It almost worked too! What I did follows.

—I started with just 4 basic ingredients. La Flor uncooked tortillas (2); Trader Joe's Country Potatoes with Haricots Vert (French for green beans), and Wild Mushrooms (all three in single frozen bag); Kirkland Signature Chicken Breast (Costco), and Carrots I had cooked sous vide: and some homemade chicken stock (not shown)


—For equipment I needed just a large frying pan and two disposable pie tins (saved from frozen pies).
—Next I placed a tortila into the bottom of a pie plate and formed the edges up the side as best I could (there was a bit of overlap). I placed the second pie plate inside the tortilla to form a mold of sorts. Then I placed the tortilla into the oven to blind bake the bottom crust so it would be cooked and crisp. I found the tortillas bubbled a bit so I placed a weight inside to prevent further bubbling.
—While the bottom crust was cooking, I put my homemade stock in the frying pan and heated it. Now I opened my frozen potato/bean/mushroom veggies and added them to the stock. Once cooked and reduced, I added my drained chicken to the mix and heated it through (don't use the canning liquid! It will dilute the stock). If your stock is thin or from a can, you may want to add a cornstarch slurry or some flour to thicken it. Then I added my carrots since they were fully cooked, they only needed to heat through.
—Don't forget to remove your pie crust & tins from the oven after just a few minutes. It should be crispy and golden brown. If not, remove the top tin and let it cook a short time more.
—Now the finish! Spoon the filling into the bottom crust and top with another tortilla, cut slits in top to allow steam to evaporate and turn on the broiler to about 375℉. Bake the entire pie for as long as it takes to crisp up the top, just a few minutes.

Results & Conclusions
Here is the completed Pi Day Chicken Pot Pie. The top and the bottom crust did not come together as I would have liked. The filling was good but may have needed more chicken. I have not given up on using tortillas for something more than tacos, burritos & quesadillas, but as a pie crust in this dish they didn't work. But hey, they are round, and it was for Pi day!