The kitchen is the most joyful room in the house. There is power in making food together because sharing food is the most natural way to connect. Time well spent with a friend in the kitchen is a great way to press the reset button.

My friend Kris and I share a love for food…especially baking. She had a brilliant idea that we make chicken pot pie together. Did you know that eating hot foods in the summer is likely to lower your body temperature. The heat index was 114 degrees on a June day where we live in Texas. I laughed as a preheated the oven to 400 and sweat the vegetables in my flip flops. We drank rosé with ice cubes and time flew by as we made two pies. This is a recipe for you to make with a friend. It’s doubled so that you can make dinner together. There’s something so warm and sweet about baking together. Friends who bake together, stay together.

For the pie crust (this will make two double-crust pies)

• 5 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 sticks of cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 cup (8 oz) vegetable shortening, butter flavored and cubed
• 1 cup of ice water

Place everything in a food processor and with the machine running, pour ice water through the tube slowly. When the dough balls up, it’s ready to take out. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate about an hour or more. When you’re ready to make your pie, cut into fourths and roll out.

Chicken pot pie filling (remember this is for two pies)

• 10 cooked chicken thighs, cubed (I cooked mine in the crockpot before my friend came over)
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 4-5 chopped carrots
• 3 sticks chopped celery
• 1 small yellow onion
• 2-3 thinly sliced leeks
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon (I threw in a few springs of tarragon into the crockpot with the chicken too)
• 1 bag of frozen baby green peas
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 5 cups chicken broth (I used all the broth from my crock pot)
• 2 ½ cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon of your cooking salt and several shakes of Borsari too
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

To make the filling, melt 4 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots, celery, onion, leeks and tarragon, and cook, about 5 minutes. Transfer cooked vegetables to a bowl. The tarragon and leeks really give the pot pie a special flavor…don’t omit!

Add remaining butter and whisk in flour until the mixture bubbles. Whisk in broth a little at a time and cook, whisking constantly. Whisk in cream, and cook 2 or 3 minutes, just until thickened. Add salt and pepper.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Flour a work surface. Remove dough from refrigerator cut into fourths. Roll out the dough with your pin and shape the size of your baking dish plus an overlap for pinching. Take a fork and poke the middle several times before filling with chicken mixture. Add half of the chicken filling then place another pie dough on top. Crimp edges and pierce four times to make a vent. I like to make it pretty and sprinkle more Borsari, herbs de Provence and fresh Parmesan on top. Repeat the process again for your friend’s pie. It’s a good idea to place the chicken pot pie on a cookie sheet.

Bake 20 minutes at 400 then reduce temperature to 375 degrees and bake another 30 minutes more, until crust is golden and filling is bubbling through vents. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

Double the fun and bake this chicken pot pie together with your friend. One of the greatest gifts that you can give people is to cook for them…cooking with them makes the soul blossom.

“Remember, ‘No one’s more important than people’! In other words, friendship is the most important thing–not career or housework, or one’s fatigue–and it needs to be tended and nurtured.” ~Julia Child