Julie's Deluxe Chicken Pot Pie

Step 1: Finely chop garlic. Slice celery, carrots and onion into same size small pieces. Heat garlic with olive oil and butter over medium heat, adding celery, carrots and onion when pan is heated. Saute about 12 minutes, or until carrots are fairly tender but garlic and onions are not burned.

Step 2: While vegetables are cooking, chop cooked chicken breasts into small pieces and set aside.

Step 3: Remove vegetables from pan and set aside. In same pan over medium-high heat, melt 1/2 cup butter and stir in 1/2 cup flour. Cook, whisking continually, til roux turns golden, but not brown. Add chicken stock a few ounces at a time, whisking to incorporate after each addition. Add wine to taste, then cream. Add spices to taste. Stir in cooked vegetables. Turn off heat.

Step 4: Stir chicken and frozen peas into vegetable mixture and pour into pie. Place top crust over bottom and trim to about 5/8" outside edge of dish. Fold top crust under bottom crust and flute (pinch) edge around pie to seal. Cut a small simple design in top to let steam escape. I make three flower petals with a stem, making sure none of them touch each other.

Step 5: If making ahead of time, remove from fridge 1 hour before cooking and don't brush with egg-white until right before putting in oven. You may need to increase cooking time by 10-15 minutes.

Step 6: Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Brush tops with egg white, cover edge with foil and bake for 45 minutes. Then turn heat down to 350 degrees and remove foil. Continue baking for 35-45 minutes, or until crust appears done.

Step 7: Let sit at least 10 minutes before serving.