Chicken "Pot Pie" with Crunchy Brown Rice Crust

I know I've mentioned before that I heart the Whole Foods iPhone app. Often when I'm bored or just messing around on my phone I'll open it up and do various recipe searches to see what I find. I came across this one by searching for "low sugar" recipes to accomodate the South Beach Diet. This recipe would be Phase Two friendly because of the rice, but you'd want to avoid it during Phase One when you can't have carbs. This sounded like an interesting twist on pot pie, and I love pot pie, so I figured it was worth a go.

Chicken "Pot Pie" with Crunchy Brown Rice Crust
From the Whole Foods iPhone app, also available on the Whole Foods website

1 tablespoon vegetable oil, plus more for greasing
1 tablespoon butter
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch pieces
1/4 pound sliced button mushrooms
2 teaspoons chopped thyme, divided
1 large carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, thinly sliced
1 small yellow onion, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1 1/2 cups low-sodium gluten-free chicken broth
1 cup whole milk
1 cup cooked brown rice or brown and wild rice blend
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon sweet paprika
1/2 cup frozen peas

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie dish with oil; set aside.

Heat oil and butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, until no longer pink, 4 to 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, 1 teaspoon of the thyme, carrots, celery, onions, salt and pepper and cook until just tender, 6 to 8 minutes. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Add broth and milk, stir well and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer until very thick, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine rice, cheese, paprika, remaining 1 teaspoon thyme, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.

Stir peas into chicken mixture then season with salt and pepper and transfer to prepared dish. Scatter rice mixture evenly over the top then arrange dish on a baking sheet to catch any drips. Bake until bubbly and crust is crisp, about 30 minutes.

Nutrition
Per serving (about 9oz/256g-wt.): 240 calories (80 from fat), 9g total fat, 3.5g saturated fat, 55mg cholesterol, 370mg sodium, 20g total carbohydrate (2g dietary fiber, 4g sugar), 21g protein

*****

For some reason I kept putting off making this. I think it was on my meal plan for a couple weeks, but I'd continually bump it to the next week. I finally broke down and made it, and I was so glad I did. This was nothing like a tradtional pot pie, it reminded me more of a chicken, veggie, and rice casserole, which was great. I found a package of Uncle Ben's brown and wild rice blend at the store, and you just had to microwave it for 90 seconds. And surprisingly, the ingredients weren't a bunch of nasty, unpronounceable junk! I was very surprised.

We all really liked this. The husband is not a fan of pot pies, and he thought this was a good twist on it. I loved the casserole aspect of it; it reminded me a lot of a recipe I used to make often, Chicken Spectacular. This is definitely something I'd make again. There weren't a whole lot of leftovers either!