THIS chicken and potato pie is a really filling dish that goes a long way and makes a great addition to the family “must-keep” recipes.
Heather Carston
LIVING in a small town, you are often guided by not only what’s in your pantry or garden, but what your local supermarket also has on hand when it comes to recipes. This week’s offering is one that originally had quite a few ingredients in it that couldn’t be sourced locally, so with a fair bit of tweaking using what I had on hand, I set about making something that in my husband’s mind, was good enough to go back for three helpings last week. And it’s a super delicious dish, very filling and it will go a very long way – you increase the ingredients and use it for a big family gathering just as easily as a small one. I use roast chicken for this, but any cooked chicken will do, making sure there are no bones. The caramelised onions are easy, and necessary – don’t skimp on this. You can use any stock you have on hand, as long as its 250ml; I just prefer Campbells. The cooking cream, which I’m never without in my fridge owing to its versatility, is a must; its richness provides a silky texture the dish would be less without.
Ingredients: Sauce: 3 Tbs butter 3 Tbs flour 250ml Campbells chicken stock ¾ C milk ¾ C thickened cooking cream 1 tsp more or less Tuscany herbs ½ tsp lemon pepper 1 tsp garlic granules
2 cooked chicken breasts (or equivalent), in bite-sized pieces 1 cup frozen or tinned peas 2 onions, sliced 1 level Tbs brown sugar 1 splash Balsamic vinegar 4 medium sized baking potatoes, thinly sliced 25gms melted butter with parsley
Method: Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a good-sized pie dish. Cook the sauce first by melting the butter in a pot, adding the flour and while whisking adding the other ingredients. Cook over a medium heat until thickened, whisking occasionally, then put aside once done. In a fry pan, add a little butter and cooking oil and add onions on a medium to high heat, cooking until translucent and beginning to slightly brown – do not let them burn. Add sugar and cook until sticky and glazed, which is just a few minutes. Add vinegar and stir again for another minute or so. Remove from heat. In the pie dish arrange half the potato slices around the bottom and edges. Tip half of the sauce into this, spreading well so it gets between the potato. Add half the onion and half the peas over this. Spread the chicken – don’t stint with this, it adds the bulk you need. Then, add the other half of the onion and peas and the remainder of the sauce, making sure the latter is well spread. Finally, add the last layer of potatoes, slightly overlapping each one. Using a pastry brush, brush on the melted butter and parsley. On top of this, tightly attach tin foil to the dish and bake in the oven for one hour. Take the dish out, increase the heat to 200C, remove the tin foil and heat a further 20 minutes or so until the potato tops are golden brown.
