Chicken potpie with drop biscuits --- looks so luscious, tastes so sumptuous but is neither difficult nor expensive to prepare

Eating a potpie is the gustatory equivalent of curling up with your favorite blanket as you enjoy the familiar textures and flavors from childhood.

Is it any wonder that this old-fashioned dish is making a comeback?

Everyone craves a little comfort food, and this entree delivers.

You'll find potpie on restaurant menus as well as in carryout departments of gourmet food stores.

Because potpie looks so luscious, you may think it's difficult or expensive to prepare. That's not so. Potpie is one of the most economical and easy dishes you can make.

In fact, this is the dish your great-grandmother made when she had to stretch a few ingredients to feed a family. Since there was no point in hiding an expensive protein under a crust, the dish traditionally called for economical cuts of meat or chicken.

Although it's difficult to ruin such a simple treasure, two things determine the success of your potpie: having enough rich sauce to not just bind, but smother the solid ingredients, and a crisp crust to contrast with the silken sauce.

The chicken potpie recipe has both enough sauce and delightful slightly crunchy drop biscuits to make it a mouthwatering success.

This dish calls for in-season sugar snap peas, but you can substitute peas, broccoli, cut-up green beans or your preferred vegetables. I don't recommend potatoes because the potpie is starchy enough with the biscuits.

CHICKEN POTPIE WITH DROP BISCUITS

MAKES: 2 servings

• 1 large carrot, pared and diced

• 1 cup sugar snap peas

• 1 1/2 tablespoons margarine

• 1 small red onion, chopped

• 1/4 cup flour

• 1/4 teaspoon salt or more to taste

• 1/4 teaspoon pepper, divided

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size chunks

• 11/2 cups chicken broth

• 1 teaspoon minced fresh dill weed

• Drop biscuits (recipe follows)

Place carrot in a small pot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook for 8 minutes or until just tender. Add sugar snap peas and cook for 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat; drain and set aside.

Melt margarine in a large nonstick pot. Add onion and cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until tender. Combine flour, salt and 1/8 teaspoon pepper in a strong paper bag. Add chicken chunks and shake to coat chicken. Reserve leftover flour. Add chicken chunks to pot and brown over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes per side. Sprinkle 1 1/2 tablespoons leftover flour into pot, stirring to mix in. Gradually pour in chicken broth, stirring constantly. Add dill weed and remaining 1/8 teaspoon pepper. Cook chicken mixture over low heat, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until thickened. Taste and adjust salt if desired.

Spoon chicken mixture into deep 9-inch glass baking dish. Prepare drop biscuit batter. Drop biscuits by the rounded tablespoon into a circle on the inside rim of the dish. Bake potpie in preheated 425-degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until the biscuits are golden brown and the filling bubbles up.

Each serving (without additional salt) has: 410 calories; 20 grams total fat; 26 grams protein; 23 grams carbohydrates; 102 milligrams cholesterol; 1,000 milligrams sodium and 5.5 grams dietary fiber.

DROP BISCUITS

• 1/2 cup flour

• 1/8 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon sugar

• 2 tablespoons margarine, cut in small chunks

• 3 to 4 tablespoons soy milk

Combine flour, salt, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Stir well. Cut in margarine to form small chunks. Stir in enough soy milk to form a wet batter.

Each serving has: 224 calories; 12.5 grams total fat; 3 grams protein; 25.5 grams carbohydrates; 35.5 milligrams cholesterol; 285 milligrams sodium and 0.5 grams dietary fiber.

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Bev Bennett is the author of, among others, "30 Minute Meals for Dummies."