• Before you get started on the filling, begin by freezing the flour, butter, and salt needed for the puff pastry dough. I cube the butter and measure out the flour.
• Put them into a gallon-sized bag and place it in the freezer until it's time to make the dough.

How to make the filling

• Add 1 tbsp of oil to a cast-iron skillet and place it over high heat.
• Add the chicken and 1 teaspoon of salt. Stir occasionally while cooking the chicken until it’s browned and no longer pink inside. The internal temperature of the chicken should be 165°F for white meat and 175-180°F for dark meat.
• Remove the chicken from the skillet and set it aside.
• Reduce the heat to medium, then immediately add the chopped onion, mushrooms (if using), carrots, celery, garlic, the remaining 1 ½ teaspoons of salt, and black pepper. Stir to combine.
• Cook until all the vegetables have softened, about 5 minutes.
• Add the butter for the filling. Once it's melted, stir in the flour and cook for a minute.
• Add the broth/stock and milk. Bring it to a simmer and gently cook until the filling has thickened. Remove from the heat
• Add the frozen peas (you don't need to thaw them), dried thyme, dried tarragon, and the chicken. Cover and set aside while you work on the dough

Making the dough

• Empty the bag of flour, salt, and butter onto a clean work surface.
• Using a bench scraper, cut the butter into small cubes
• Add ice water 1-2 tablespoons at a time and mix it into the dough. Keep doing this until the dough just barely comes together. It may feel like it’s never going to come together, but suddenly it will, so be patient
• Use your scraper to fold the dough into thirds, like a letter.
• Then, get out a rolling pin and pound the dough until it’s about the size of a piece of paper.
• Then, use your scraper again to fold the dough into thirds, like a letter. Repeat this process two more times after the first one.
• Repeat the process one more time, but this time, just fold the dough over once instead of into thirds like before.
• Wrap the dough in parchment paper and place it in the fridge for 1 hour.

Preparing to bake the pies

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
• Divide the dough in half. Roll out each half into a circle until it's large enough to place two of your ramekins on the dough. Trace around the ramekins with a knife, leaving an extra ½ inch. Do the same with the other half of the dough.
• Now, fill each ramekin equally with the filling. Lay the circle gently on top without pressing down.
• Make your egg wash by combining 1 egg and 1 tbsp of water. Brush evenly over the top of each pie.
• Place the pies onto a parchment-lined sheet pan to catch the drips.
• Bake for 15 minutes at 425 degrees.
• Lower the temperature to 400 degrees and continue baking until the crust is golden brown and puffy, and the filling starts to bubble. This could take about 15-20 minutes
• Remove the sheet pan with the pies from the oven. Place the pies onto a cooling rack and allow at least 10 minutes to cool before digging in. If the pies are still too hot, allow them to cool longer—you don’t want to burn yourself!