Chicken Pot Pie with Cream Cheese Biscuits

I think I'd put just about anything into a casserole as long as it had a crust on top. My kids love pot pies, my brothers love pot pies, my friends love...you know. This might be the essence of comfort food.

I make about forty three different versions (ok that's a little high), but this is one of my favorites. If you have homemade chicken stock you've already hit a homerun, but there's fabulous flavor here regardless. Best of all, this actually is a rather quick dish (especially for me!). It only takes a few minutes to throw the biscuits together, which you can do while the filling cooks on the stovetop. No rolling pin or floured surface required for these, and their super fluffy inside, while the tops back up golden and gorgeous. The inside is a silky cloak of creamy wow wrapping up beautiful chicken and tender veggies. A half hour in the oven and you're done. What's more Bombshell than that? (The answer would be 'nothing'!).

You'll need:

3-4 cups of cubed cooked chicken

2 medium carrots, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)

2 celery stalks, diced (about 1 1/2 cups)

1 large onion, diced (about 2 cups)

2-3 sprigs thyme

2-3 cups minced garlic

2 Tbl butter

2 Tbl olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 1/4 cups homemade chicken stock

8 ounces cream cheese

1 cup frozen baby peas

For the biscuits:

2 cups all purpose flour

1-2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup cold butter

3 oz cold cream cheese

2/3 cups buttermilk

2 Tbl butter, melted

2 Tbl cream

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Over medium heat in a large skillet, melt together the butter and olive oil. Saute onions, celery, garlic and carrots, along with the thyme for about five minutes, or until fragrant and crisp-tender.
3. Meanwhile, in the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add the butter and cream cheese, and pulse until coarse and fully incorporated. Add buttermilk, and pulse just until combined. Dough will be nice and sticky.
4. To the veggies in the pan, once they've become tender, add the flour and stir well to combine. Add a cup of the chicken stock and stir well, bringing to a simmer. Add cream cheese and again stir well to combine. Bring just to a simmer, and remove from heat.
5. Stir in chicken and peas. Taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper to taste. Place chicken mixture in a 9x13 casserole dish. Drop the biscuit mixture by heaping tablespoon onto the top of the casserole. Brush the tops of the biscuits with melted butter, then cream.
6. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes - or until biscuits are golden and the pot pie is bubbly.