Chicken Pot Pie with puff pastry

February 23, 2011

Leslie Styles, foodie & travel aficionado, shares some delicious dishes found on her travels around the world.

A great way to use up leftover roast chicken is to make a delicious and comforting Chicken Pot Pie. Taking advantage of store bought puff pastry makes the process even easier. The filling can be prepared in advance with any vegetables you have on hand, but I like to use diced potatoes, carrots and celery with a handful of green peas and blanched pearl onions which are sautéed in butter until tender. The final flourish is fitting a round of puff pastry dough on top of each serving dish and with the excess pastry, decorating the tops with cut out shapes, and finally brushing the tops with an egg wash. The result is fabulous!

Ingredients     Serves 6-8

› 1 sheet frozen Puff Pastry, thawed
› 5 tbsp all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
› 5 tbsp unsalted butter
› 3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-in. pieces
› 3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1-in. pieces
› 2 celery stalks, sliced into 1/2-in. pieces
› 15 pearl onions
› 12 oz cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed
› 4 garlic cloves, minced
› 1 cup Madeira or Cognac
› 2 cups chicken stock
› 1 cup whole milk or cream
› 5 cups cooked chicken, torn into bite-sized pieces
› 1 cup frozen green peas
› 2 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
› 2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
› 2 tbsp Herbes de Provence
› 1/4 tsp cayenne
› 3 tsp coarse salt
› 1 tsp freshly ground pepper

egg wash
1 large egg, 2 tbsp milk

Directions

› Preheat oven to 400°F.

› In a large heavy-bottom pot, melt 5 tbsp butter over medium-high heat. Add potatoes and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until potatoes and carrots are fork-tender, about 10 -12 minutes.

› Meanwhile, trim the bottoms off the pearl onions and blanch in a small pot of boiling water, about 3-4 minutes. Rinse with cold water, remove outer skin, and set aside.

› Add mushrooms, celery and garlic to the potato mixture and cook until the mushrooms are heated through. Add Madeira and cook 2 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring to thicken, about 2-3 minutes. Pour in chicken stock, milk and pearl onions. Bring to a simmer; cook until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly, 2-3 minutes. Stir in chicken, peas, parsley, thyme, herbes de provence and cayenne. Season generously with salt and pepper, to taste. Transfer filling to your deep-dish pie plate or individual ramekins. Transfer to a rack to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.

› On a lightly floured surface, roll out the puff pastry about 2 in. larger than the top of the baking dish. Place over the dish and trim leaving a 1/2-in. overhang, reserving excess pastry. Press overhang into and over edge. With a fork, whisk egg and milk; brush over pastry. Use excess pastry to cut out shapes and place on top. Brush egg mixture over pastry. Cut 5 or 6 steam vents into the top of the pastry using a small sharp knife.

› Transfer casserole to a parchment-lined baking sheet, and bake 30-40 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Serve hot.

Leslie Styles is president of Styles Design Inc., a Toronto-based branding and communications agency, and author of Scrumpdillyicious, a food and travel blog dedicated to all things delicious. She can be reached at stylesdesign.net and scrumpdillyicious.blogspot.com

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