Chicken Pot Pie

 

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time1 hr

Total Time1 hr 15 mins

Ingredients

Chicken & broth:

• 600 g/1.2lb chicken breast (or boneless thighs)
• 2 cups / 500 ml milk , any fat % (Note 1)
• 1 cup / 250 ml chicken broth (stock)
• 2 tsp chicken or vegetable stock powder (Note 2)
• 2 sprigs thyme , optional

Chicken Pot Pie:

• 1 large onion , chopped
• 2 large carrots (3 small). chopped
• 3 celery ribs , chopped
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 50 g / 3 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1/3 cup / 85 ml white wine
• 1/3 cup / 50 g flour
• 1/2 cup / 50 g grated parmesan
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1 cup frozen peas , no need to thaw
• 2 sheets puff pastry (enough to cover pots, with drape)
• 1 egg , lightly whisked

Instructions

Chicken:

• Place milk, broth and stock powder in a large saucepan. Bring to a very gentle simmer over medium heat, add chicken and thyme.
• Place lid on, simmer gently on medium low for 15 minutes (do not boil, can make milk split).
• Remove chicken, shred or dice (don't worry if inside a bit uncooked). Cover pot and set poaching liquid aside.
• Chicken Pot Pie:
• Melt butter in a large pot over medium high heat. Add garlic and onion, cook for 2 minutes. Add thyme, carrot and celery, cook for 3 minutes or until carrot is softened.
• Add wine. Stir, scraping the bottom of the pot, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes or until wine is mostly evaporated.
• Add flour and stir for 1 minute.
• Add about half the reserved poaching liquid and stir until all flour is incorporated - it will be a thick sludge.
• Add remaining milk broth, parmesan, pepper. Stir.
• Add chicken and peas, stir.
• Once mixture is heated (you'll see steam), cook for 3 minutes to thicken the sauce, stirring regularly. (Note 3)
• Remove from heat. Spoon into oven proof pots - 4 large or 6 small (Note 4). Cool in fridge at least 30 minutes. (Note 5)

Assembly & Baking:

• Meanwhile, remove puff pastry from freezer to partially thaw. Then use a bowl as a guide to cut rounds from the pastry about 2.5cm / 1" wider (all the way around) than the pots - be generous!
• Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
• Brush edge of pots with egg. Top with puff pastry, folding down the edges.
• Brush pastry with egg. Cut a 2cm / 2/3" slide in the middle with a small knife.
• Bake 35 - 40 minutes until deep golden.
• Serve immediately!

Notes

1. Cream option - if you'd like to make it even richer, reduce milk by up to 3/4 cup and swap for cream. But DO NOT ADD when poaching chicken, stir it in when the poaching liquid is added into the pot after adding flour.

2. Stock powder - I like Vegeta which is a vegetable stock powder. Or use 2 x chicken bouillon cubes, crumbled.

3. Sauce thickness - whatever the sauce thickness at this stage is what it will be when the pies comes out of the oven.

4. Pot Sizes - Use 4 large about 2 cups / 500 ml / 16 oz capacity (about 11 - 12 cm wide) OR 5 to 6 smaller ones about 375ml / 1.5 cups / 12 - 13 oz (~10cm wide). Or one large pie dish / skillet - 8 cups / 2 L / 2 quarts.

5. Cool Filling  - hot filling will melt the butter in the puff pastry dough, resulting in less puffing. As long as the surface of the pie filling is cool(-ish), that's good enough.

6. Pie Base - A number of readers have asked how to make this using puff pastry as a pie base. Here's how: Spray pots with oil or grease with butter. Line pots with puff pastry with excess to drape over the edge, then place in oven at 180C/350F. After 10 minutes or whenever the partially cooked base starts to puff up, just push it back down. Repeat once more or as required to stop the puffing (it doesn't take much). Then once the pastry is golden, remove from oven and let cool. Fill with COOLED filling. Brush egg across the pastry rim then top with puff pastry lid. Bake per recipe, turn out of pots. 

7. STORAGE: To freeze or refrigerate uncooked, cool filling completely. Then top with pastry, egg wash, cut slit. Freeze 3 months or refrigerate up to 2 days. Thaw overnight (if frozen) then bake per recipe. Note: Thawed then refrozen puff pastry as well as thawed then refrigerated puff pastry does not puff up quite as much but the difference isn't significant.

Cooked Chicken Pot Pies will keep in the fridge for up to 4 days. Best reheated in the oven covered in foil so the pastry can crisp up slightly, 20 minutes at 180C/350F.

8. Nutrition per serving 

Nutrition Facts

Chicken Pot Pie

Amount Per Serving

Calories 588Calories from Fat 234

% Daily Value*

Fat 26g40%

Saturated Fat 11g69%

Cholesterol 144mg48%

Sodium 1191mg52%

Potassium 1152mg33%

Carbohydrates 36g12%

Fiber 4g17%

Sugar 12g13%

Protein 47g94%

Vitamin A 6245IU125%

Vitamin C 22.4mg27%

Calcium 344mg34%

Iron 2.9mg16%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Roast Pumpkin, Spinach and Feta Salad

Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 25 mins
Total Time 35 mins

Servings: 4 - 5 people
Calories: 264cal

Ingredients
Pumpkin:
600 g / 1.2 lb pumpkin (after peeling), cut into 3cm / 1.25" cubes (Note 1)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

Dressing:
2.5 tbsp / 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp honey
Salt and pepper

Salad:
1/4 cup / 35g pine nuts (Note 2)
150 g / 5 oz baby spinach leaves (4 handfuls)
60 g / 2 oz feta , crumbled (or more!!)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 220C/430F (standard) or 200C/390F (fan/convection).
2. Toss pumpkin with olive oil, salt and pepper. Spread on baking tray, bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, flip, then bake for a further 7 - 10 minutes until golden but not mushy. (Note 3) Loosen pumpkin with egg flip (it can adhere as it cools), then if serving salad at room temperature, leave to cool.
3. Shake Dressing in a jar. Taste and adjust to taste. I like it a bit sharp because it balances out the flavours in this salad.
4. Toast pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat until light golden and it smells nutty. Remove pine nuts from skillet as soon as it's ready.
5. Place Spinach in a bowl. Drizzle with a bit of dressing then toss.
6. Add pumpkin, just a bit of feta and pine nuts, then GENTLY BRIEFLY toss just to disperse the feta. (If you toss vigorously, the feta can make it look messy).
7. Transfer to serving plate. Sprinkle over remaining feta and pine nuts. Just before serving, drizzle with remaining dressing (dressing doesn't stay on baby spinach well, so worth drizzling at end). Serve!

Video

Notes

1. You can use any pumpkin or squash for this recipe. 
2. Pine nuts are expensive but worth using in this recipe, it's the perfect finishing touch However, you can sub with any other nuts of choice. Chopped almonds and macadamias are great.
3. Pumpkin turns to mush if baked for too long. You don't want mush in your salad. So keep an eye on it - it should be tender with a nice golden surface on at least 2 sides (i.e. the sides that were in contact with the tray during baking). And also, loosen pumpkin from tray using an egg flip / spatula when you take it out of the oven - if you don't do this while hot, it might stick to the tray.
4. Nutrition per serving, assuming 4 servings and that all the dressing is consumed. Reality is that most of the Dressing ends up at the bottom of the bowl because dressing doesn't stick that well to baby spinach. So actual calories will be less than this.