I made this Chicken Guinness Pot Pie in honor of St. Patricks Day which is fast approaching.

I purchased a 6 pack of Guinness, and I basically spent all of last weekend cooking with it. Weird you say? Or maybe genius…. oh. An overstatement? We shall see…

**This serves 8 people in a full to the brim 9×13” baking dish. I made this recipe a second time and used 4 HUGE “individual serving” dishes (pictured). Worked beautifully.

This is how you do it:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Put the three chicken breasts on a sheet pan and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.

Roast the chicken for about 40 minutes or until the juices run clear. (leave the oven at 375 degrees)

Let the chicken cool and then removing skin and bones, shred the chicken into bite sized pieces and set aside with any juices that have collected on the pan. (you can discard the skin and bones.)

Remove the puff pastry from the freezer, and set it out to thaw while you make the pot pie filling.

Using the 1 Tbs of butter, grease a 9×13” baking dish.

In a large heavy pot, melt the ¼ cup butter over medium heat.

Add the onion, sprinkle with a little Kosher salt and cook over medium heat until the onion is soft.

To the butter and onions, add the carrots, celery, potatoes, peas and pearl onions. Sweat for a few minutes until they start to soften.

Add the chicken pieces to the vegetables.

Add the guinness and let the vegetables and beer sweat for about 5 minutes, until everything is hot and tender.

Add the ¼ cup of flour and stir it into the vegetables. It should absorb some of the beer and butter and will help to thicken the sauce. Cook for about 3-5 minutes to get rid of the raw flour taste.

Add the 2 cups of chicken stock , the cream and the fresh thyme leaves. Stir the filling and let simmer with the lid on for about 10 minutes.

Season with salt and pepper to taste and then pour the filling into the prepared baking dish.

Take the two puff pastry sheets out and lay them side by side (overlapping where they meet) on a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll them together so you have a long rectangle. (for the smaller pot pies, just use 1 sheet for each pie.)

Using the puff pastry sheets, make a tent over the filling, simply pinching the puff pastry to the edges of the dish to hold it in place. Cut off any extra dough that hangs too far over the sides.

Take the egg, and beat it with 1 tsp of water.

Lightly brush the egg wash over the puff pastry so that it will have a nice sheen to it when it is baked. Slice some steam holes in the top of the pie.

Carefully put the pot pie in the oven and bake at 425 for about 20 minutes, or until the insides are bubbling and the puff pastry is golden brown.

Serve hot and Enjoy!