Turkey (or Chicken) Garden Pot Pie with Cheddar Biscuits

It's January and while it's taken it's time with it, it's finally cold, cold, cold.  Soups and stews and steamy comfort foods are what I want.  Oh, and I want them to be pretty easy to make.  And not call for weird ingredients or use cooking techniques I haven't heard of.  And I want my kids to eat it without fussing.  And I want to be able to use up ingredients I have that came from our garden this past summer.  See.  I'm not fussy.

Well.  Here's a cold-weather recipe that meets all my {fussy} needs.  And it's plenty tasty, to boot.

Turkey (or Chicken) Garden Pot Pie with Cheddar Biscuits (adapted from Yankee magazine, January/February 2012 issue)
Yields 6 servings.  This recipe calls for making individual pot pies in six 8-10 ounce oven safe bowls.  I used smaller ramekins and random glass storage containers I had on hand.  It was fun making individual servings, but you could also make one pot pie instead.  Also, sweet potatoes could be substituted for the squash beautifully.

Filling:
3 cups chicken broth
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced (seeds removed)
4 tbsp. butter
1 celery rib, diced (optional)
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp, salt
5 tbsp. flour
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp, freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp. dried parsley
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked turkey (or chicken)
1/3 cups frozen peas

Biscuits:
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. butter, chilled and chopped into small pieces
2/3 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk (I keep Saco Buttermilk on hand)
milk (for brushing biscuits)

For the filling, in a medium sized saucepan, bring the chicken broth to a boil.  Add the diced carrots and butternut squash.  Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender (5-7 minutes or so).  Drain, RESERVING THE BROTH, and set aside (I'm sorry I yelled).  In the same saucepan, melt the butter and saute the onions and celery with the salt until soft.  Add the flour and cook, stirring for a couple minutes.  Then, slowly add the milk and the reserved broth while you keep stirring until it thickens.  Add the pepper, parsley, turkey (or chicken), cooked carrots and butternut squash, and peas.  Divide among six 8-10 ounce oven safe bowls (or whatever other oven proof containers you have), leaving about a half inch at the top for the biscuits.

To make the biscuits, whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.  Add chilled, diced butter and cut in with a fork, a pastry blender or your fingers until it's a course meal with plenty of lumps.  Still in the shredded cheddar.  In a small bowl, whisk the egg and the buttermilk together, then add to the flour mixture.  Stir until just blended and turn out on a floured surface.  Knead to pull it together, then roll out to a half inch thickness.  Using a drinking glass or a knife with the help of your keen eyes, cut out the dough to match the size of your baking dishes.  Form additional biscuits with extra dough and place them on a greased cookie sheet.  Brush the tops of the biscuits with milk and bake individual pot pies at 425 degrees on a cookie sheet covered with foil for about 20 minutes or until the biscuit tops turn a light brown.

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