damn fine chicken pot pie

Well, last night's chicken pot pie was delish, so I'm going to post the recipe. I ended up veering away from the recipe a bit - as always. When it comes to recipes I'm only slavish when it comes to cakes and puddings, otherwise, I'm happy to tweak. Now, this ended up making sooooo much filling that I served it up in my loveheart pie dish, rather than individual ramkekins. Still looked pretty and tasted good though.

Here's what I did.

2 chicken breasts

1 carrot, diced pretty finely

1 large onion, diced finely 

2 waxy potatoes, diced the same size as other veg

2 cups of chicken stock

1 chicken stock cube

{random stock vegies, half an onion, half a carrot, stick of celery, bouquet garni}

1/4 cup butter and a little olive oil

1/2 cup finely minced flat-leaf parsley

dried tarragon

3/4 cup plain flour

1/4 cup thick cream

a glug of brandy

salt and pepper

one egg, beaten

First I poached the chicken in the chicken stock, stock cube along with all the random stock vegies and bouquet garni - I also seasoned them generously with ground black pepper. This took about 10 minutes and I removed them from the stock {which I kept simmering} and then I chopped the chicken into largish bite-sized chunks and set that aside.

Next, in my le crueset, I threw in some butter and oil and tossed in the diced vegies and let them soften over a low heat for around 15 minutes. When the potatoes were cooked I added 3/4 cup of flour and stirred it for around 2 minutes over the heat. Next, I strained the stock and poured it over the vegies {I tossed out the bouquet garni and stock veg}. I stirred this through and then added the brandy, cream, salt and pepper and herbs. After tasting it, I poured it into my pie dish, and popped a piece of butter puff pastry over the top, folding the edges over and giving it a couple of random slashes in the centre so the steam could escape. Finally, I brushed it generously with an egg wash, sprinkled pretty pink Murray River salt over the top and baked it at around 180 degrees for around 45 minutes until the top was really golden and crunchy.

I served it with slices of zucchini I'd layered with sliced almonds and drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice before baking for around 25 minutes. It was yum.