Jono & Jules do food & wine

Chicken & Ham Pie

This is a great way to use up leftover roast chicken (or dare we say turkey?) and ham. Almost as good as the roast chicken dinner itself and we are definitely considering this as a dish to use Christmas leftovers.

Wine Suggestion: This dish works well with a rich white wine. We tried it with an oaked Semillon, which on it’s own was delicious but with the pie the crisp acidity made it fall a bit flat. We’d suggest a good, oaked chardonnay instead which has much better weight in the mid-palate to work with the rich creamy chicken and ham. Yum.

Leftover Chicken & Ham Pie – serves 6-8

• 25g butter
• 1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 400g broccoli florets
• 25g plain flour
• 225ml cream
• 225ml chicken stock
• 675g cooked chicken and ham, cut into 2cm chunks
• 1 tbsp chopped tarragon or marjoram
• mashed potato (made from 1kg of potatoes)

Preheat the oven to 180ºC, Gas mark 4.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the onion and fry gently for 8-10 minutes or until completely soft.

Put a saucepan of water over a high heat and add a good pinch of salt. When the water boils, add the broccoli florets and cover until the water comes back to the boil. Remove the lid as soon as the water boils and cook the broccoli for 2-4 minutes or until just tender.

Add the flour to the onion and whisk for 1 minutes, then pour in the cream and stock, whisking all the time. Bring to the boil, then simmer for a minute or two until slightly thickened.

Stir the chicken, ham, herbs and broccoli in to the sauce and season with salt and pepper. Pour into an ovenproof dish (approx. 20 x 30 cm) and top with mashed potato.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling.

(Original recipe from Rachel’s Everyday Kitchen by Rachel Allen, Harper Collins, 2013.)