Dinner in a Hurry

I love chicken/turkey/beef pot pie because of the versatility. There are so many methods with the "pie" part, such as pie crust, puff pastry, mashed potatoes, polenta, or tonight's method, biscuits. There are also so many different meat and vegetable combinations to fill it with, and spice blends can take the pot pie to a different ethnicity. (In my mind I'm creating a jerk chicken pot pie with smashed plantains on top right now!)
This pot pie was created for a busy weeknight. By cooking the vegetables on the stove, making a roux to thicken it, and topping it with biscuits that cook while the vegetables cook, it should not take more than 30 minutes to prepare.

Quick Chicken Pot Pie

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large carrot, diced
3 new potatoes, diced
5 mushrooms, quartered
½ small yellow onion, diced
1 garlic clove, minced
½ cup green beans cut in 1 inch segments
½ cup frozen corn
½ cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen okra
2 chicken breasts, poached and diced
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
2-3 cups chicken stock
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. thyme

biscuits
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 tsp. baking powder
½ teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, finely diced
1/3 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Mix together all dry biscuit ingredients, then use fingers to squish in butter. Butter should be about the size of a pea or smaller. Mix in milk with a wooden spoon. When milk is just absorbed, turn mixture onto a floured surface. If it's too wet, add some flour. Pat dough out until it's about ½" thick. Flour a biscuit cutter and cut out 5-6 biscuits. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet, brush a little more milk on top of each to help with the browning. Bake for 9-10 minutes, until golden on top.
While biscuits are in the oven, start on the filling. Preheat nonstick soup pot to medium. Add a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Add potatoes, carrots, mushrooms, green beans and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes. Move vegetables to the outside of the pot, add the butter, let it melt, then add the flour evenly over it. Allow the flour to cook a bit, then mix it all around all of the vegetables and let it cook for another minute until there is no white flour left. Add in the chicken stock, salt, pepper, thyme and chicken and stir until mixture is thick and somewhat creamy. Add frozen corn, okra and peas, and bring back to a low bubble.
Ladle filling into a bowl, top with a biscuit.

Store bought biscuts can be used, of course, as well as a frozen mixed vetegable blend.