Chicken Pot Pie...Sans Pie

I'd planned on making the Moroccan Chicken Pot Pie again last night, but got lazy (kind of).
Why not just make the filling and serve over brown rice? Great comfort food and I was able to throw extra veggies in that I had hanging out in the fridge and pantry since I wasn't working under the constraints of a 9" pie pan. What was left of the freakishly-large-head of cauliflower, a random red potato, and some frozen baby lima beans joined the carrots, onion and frozen peas called for in the original recipe. I bumped up the amounts of all of the spices, threw in a few dried apricots with the golden raisins, and added some extra low sodium chicken broth to make it a little saucier for the rice. The brown rice was cooked in a rice cooker with nothing more than a nice carroty veggie broth and a little extra water. Best part is...there are plenty of leftovers to keep munching on.
This can be a great fridge cleaner meal. Really, just use any vegetable combo that appeals to you. If you wanted to save even more time, I think they sell a frozen mix of veggies specifically for pot pie type recipes.
I made our standard Braised Greens recipe with collards to round out the meal.


Moroccan Spiced Chicken Pot Pie Filling:

First I brought a 3-quart pot of salted water to the boil to which I added the baby lima beans. Cooked them for 6 minutes, then added diced red potato and cauliflower florettes. Cooked the whole thing for about 3 more minutes, then drained and set aside.

In a large oven safe pot, cook the onions, carrots, olives, raisins (and apricots if using) as per the original recipe for about 6-7 minutes. I salt this mixture with some Kosher salt.

Continue following the original recipe, adding the veggies you've set aside at the same time as the chicken broth.


Cover the pot and put the whole works into the oven for about 25-28 minutes. The original recipe calls for a 425 degree oven, but I set mine at 400 this time because the knob on the lid of my enamel pot would not have cared for the extra 25 degrees. :-)