Chicken Pot Pie

Today's recipe is adapted from Jacques Pepin's 'Complete Techniques'. I had a lot of chicken meat left over from last night's roast chicken and needed to find a use for it.

How many potpies you can make obviously depends on how much leftover cooked chicken you have. I had enough to make 4 pies, each in a 4-inch oven-safe ramekin. Take 3/4 cup white wine, add 3/4 cup chicken stock (preferably homemade), a dash of dried thyme and 1/2 small onion, sliced, and combine them in a pan, bring them to a simmer for 20 minutes, then strain the liquid through a fine sieve. Reduce the liquid to a volume of 3/4 cup (this took me 8 minutes of boiling), then add 2 tsp beurre manie (rub 1 tsp softened butter into 1 tsp flour) and whisk until smooth. Boil 5 minutes, then add 3/4 cup heavy cream and return to a boil. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, boil some salted water. Add 2 small carrots, peeled and diced, and boil for 2 minutes. Add 1 rib celery, diced, and boil another 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup frozen peas and boil a further 30 seconds. Strain and reserve.

Distribute cooked chicken (cut into small chunks), vegetables and sauce between ramekins, being careful not to fill all the way to the top. Take a sheet of puff pastry (you could make your own, but I bought a package of frozen dough - I used half of a 1 lb package). If frozen, allow it to thaw first, then roll it out to a thickness of 1/8 inch (my pastry was already this thick), and cut 4 rounds (each a little larger than the top of the ramekin). Beat 2 egg yolks, and brush each round with egg on 1 side. Place each on a ramekin, eggy side downwards. Press gently around sides of ramekin. Try to keep the pastry taut. Brush the tops with egg and refrigerate the pies for 1 hour.

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Bake pies on a sheet tray for 30 minutes. Serve straight away. Enjoy!

Note 1 - If you do not have leftover chicken, you could poach some raw chicken pieces in the wine and stock (keep simmering until cooked through) - you decide how much meat to use based on how many people you have to feed.

Note 2 - Metric Info: 4 in = 10cm; 3/4 cup = 180ml; 1/2 cup = 120ml; 1 lb = 450g; 1/8 in = 3mm; 375 F = 190 C.