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Posts Tagged ‘Chicken pie’

Chicken, Leek & Tarragon Pie

Posted in Chicken, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , on 22 August 2026| 2 Comments »

With our tarragon growing like mad in the garden and nerw season leeks at the farm shop we felt like cooking a proper chicken pie. This gorgeous recipe delivers two golden, puff-pastry-topped pies — one for now, and one to freeze for a no-fuss dinner down the line. It’s everything you want from a comforting pie: tender poached chicken, sweet leeks, smoky bacon, and a luxuriously creamy tarragon-spiked sauce.

Wine Suggestion: as usual with chicken pies we opened a chardonnay, in this case a little gem from Patrick Javillier in Meursault, Burgundy; their Bourgonge Côte d’Or Cuvée de Forgets. One of two different Bourgogne Blancs they make, this one richer and fuller, but remaining elegant and expressive and quite Meursault like with a creaminess and toastiness.

Chicken, leek & tarragon pie – serves 8 (makes 2 pies, each serves 4)

TO POACH THE CHICKEN:

  • 1 free-range chicken, cut in half lengthways (your butcher will do this for you but it is quite easy to do with strong scissors)
  • olive oil
  • 1 brown onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
  • 1 carrot, roughly chopped
  • 3 bay leaves

FOR THE PIE:

  • 3 celery sticks, halved and sliced
  • 3 large leeks, chopped into 2cm rounds
  • 6 rashers of top-quality smoked streaky bacon, remove any rind and cut into chunks
  • 30g butter
  • 600ml poaching broth from the chicken
  • 50g plain flour
  • 150ml white wine
  • 200ml double cream
  • 1 heaped tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 20g fresh tarragon, finely chopped
  • 1 egg
  • 2 sheets of all-butter puff pastry
  • fennel seeds (optional)

Season the chicken halves generously and leave aside for an hour to come to room temperature.

Get a heavy-based pot that will fit both pieces of chicken (otherwise you can do this in two batches). Drizzle in some olive oil and place over a fairly high heat. When the oil is hot, fry the chicien pieces on both sides until golden brown and caramelised all over.

When the chicken is browned, add the chopped veg and the bay leaf. Top up with water so that the chicken is just covered. Season generously with salt and bring up to a very gentle simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes, or until the chicken is just cooked through – as always a thermometer is your best friend here.

Remove the chicken from the pot and set aside to cool (keep the cooking liquid in the pot). When the chicken is cool enough to handle, strip the chicken from the carcass and put into a bowl. Put the bones, skin and gristle back into the pot with the poaching liquid. Put this back on the heat and simmer to extract all the flavour from the bones while you continue with the recipe.

Place the bacon in a large pan with th butter and fry to render out the fat. Add the celery, leeks and a ladleful of the chicken stock, then cover with a lid and cook until tender.

Strain the chicken stock now and measure out 600ml. Taste and seaon with salt if needed.

Add the flour to the leeks and mix well, cooking for a few minutes, then pour in the wine and mix again, it will look pretty awful at this stage but don’t worry. Add the chicken stock, a ladleful at a time, stirring until it is completely absorbed. When you have added all 600ml, turn the heat off and pour in the cream. Add the cooked chicken meat, mustard and finely chopped tarragon. Mix well and taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Fill a pie dish with half the mixture (we then freeze the rest in another dish, ready to cover with pastry when needed).

Heat the oven to 200C.

Whisk an egg and brush the edges of the pie dish. Place a pastry sheet on top and crimp the edges but leave a generous overhang. You can decorate with any extra bits. Brush the top with more egg wash, then sprinkle over the fennel seeds (if using) and season with salt and pepper. Pierce a hole in the middle so the steam can escape, then bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown and puffed.

(Original recipe from The Farm Table by Julius Roberts, Ebury Press, 2023.)

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Chicken, Mushroom & Tarragon Pie

Posted in Chicken, Food, tagged , , , , , , , on 10 April 2020| 2 Comments »

Chicken, Mushroom & Tarragon Pie

Our chicken pies usually have some kind of cream in them but we really liked this gravy version. Try and use chicken thighs instead of breasts if you can get them, but no matter. I think we can all be forgiven for using dried herbs rather than fresh at the minute too. Though our local grocer surprisingly had some tarragon. We divided this into two dishes and baked each one fresh over two nights – reheated pastry never works out so well.

Wine Suggestion: Pinot Noir makes a nice match for this dish, be it classic Burgundy or New World. As always with this grape, make sure it is fresh and vibrant – the rich, juicy and high alcohol versions with lower acidity just don’t cut it with food. Tonight we had a cheaper “Little Yering” from the Yarra Valley found in the bargain bin of a local. While it didn’t blow us away it was delightful with the food

Chicken, mushroom & tarragon pie – serves 4

  • 2 onions, roughly chopped
  • 400g diced chicken (we used thighs but breasts fine too)
  • 100g mushrooms, quartered
  • 3 tbsp plain flour
  • 330ml white beer
  • 300ml chicken stock or veg stock
  • 4 tbsp of chopped tarragon leaves
  • a ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry sheet (all-butter not essential)

Preheat the oven to 180C/Gas 4.

Heat a splash of oil in a large frying pan and brown the chicken. Remove it from the pan and add the onions and mushrooms. Cook these for about 5 minutes or until softened and browned.

Add 3 tbsp of flour to the mushroom mixture and keep cooking for about 5 minutes, then add the beer and stock. Bring to the boil while scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to get all the sticky bits.

Lower the heat, then add the tarragon, some seasoning, and return the chicken to the pan. Simmer for 10 minutes until thickened, then tip into a baking dish and leave to cool.

Cut the pastry sheet to fit the dish and lay gently onto the sauce. Cut a few slits in the top and make a decoration with the pastry cuttings.

Bake for 30 minutes or until browned.

(Original recipe from Eat: The Little Book of Fast Food by Nigel Slater, Fourth Estate, 2013.)

Chicken, Mushroom & Tarragon Pie 2

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Chicken, Leek & Cider Pie

Posted in Chicken, Food, tagged , , , , , , , on 18 November 2018| 2 Comments »

Chicken & apple pieChicken pie is an autumnal dish in our house and we usually try a different version every year. We particularly liked this one flavoured with cider and apples.

Wine Suggestion: A natural suggestion is to drink the cider you used to make the pie, and we finished the remainder of the bottle likewise. Our choice this evening was from Normandy, courtesy of our last trip to France. When matching a wine, we think the appley character of Chenin Blanc is what to go with. If your prefernces are French wine, then a Vouvray is a good choice; tonight we chose the Secateurs Chenin Blanc from Swartland in South Africa; a country that really excels with this grape.

Chicken, Leek & Cider Pie – serves 4

  • 60g unsalted butter
  • 60g plain flour
  • 250ml dry cider
  • 250ml full-fat milk
  • 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
  • 2 tbsp crème fraîche
  • 3 medium leeks, sliced into rings
  • 1 large apple, peeled, cored and sliced
  • 500g cooked chicken, torn into pieces
  • 50g extra mature cheddar, grated
  • 375g puff pastry
  • 2 egg yolks, beaten with 2tsp milk

Melt 40g of the butter in a saucepan and stir in the flour. Continue to stir over a medium-low heat for a minute to make a roux. Remove from the heat and gradually add the cider, mixing carefully with a wooden spoon. Keep stirring until all the cider has been added, then gradually add the milk. Season and return the pan to the heat and, stirring continuously, bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Stir in the mustard, lemon juice and crème fraîche and taste for seasoning.

Melt the other 20g of butter in a frying pan and gently fry the leeks and apples for 5 minutes. Add 2tbsp of water, season, cover and cook over a gentle heat for 8-10 minutes or until tender. If there is a lot of juice you can increase the heat to reduce it.

Add the chicken and half the cheese to the sauce, then bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and heat the chicken through. Gently stir in the leeks and apples. Taste and add more mustard or lemon juice if needed.

Spoon the chicken mixture into a 25 x 20cm pie dish or a round dish 25cm across. The dish should have a capacity of 1.3 litres. Sprinkle over the rest of the cheese and leave to cool completely.

Heat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to the thickness of a euro coin. Cut off a strip the same width as the lip of your dish. Wet the lip and press the strip onto it. Brush the strip with water and place the rest of the pastry on top. Press the edges to seal, then cut off the excess. Crimp the edges and decorate the top with the trimmings.

Make 3 small slits in the pastry close to the middle, then brush the top with the egg mixture. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden and puffed up. Serve immediately.

(Original recipe by Diana Henry in BBC Good Food)

 

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Chicken & Mushroom Pie

Posted in Chicken, Food, tagged , , , , , , , , , on 16 March 2015| 1 Comment »

Chicken & Mushroom Pie

This is a lovely pie for a frosty day. Serve with lots of mashed potato and peas.

Wine Suggestion: this dish needs a white wine with a medium body as there is some subtlety at play with the flavours and weight. Classically we’d pair a sensitively oaked chardonnay with an earthiness and minerality so a better Maçon or Côte Chalonnais would be great. To step outside the box though look to a Vin Jaune from the Jura which adds a layer of nutty, yeasty characters, a lovely freshness of acidity and a rustic earthiness. Don’t go too sophisticated as this is a wholesome, honest pie.

Chicken & Mushroom Pie – serves 4-6

  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 8 skinless boneless chicken thighs
  • 8 rashers streaky bacon, cut into large pieces
  • 1 onion, sliced
  • 250g baby button mushrooms
  • handful thyme sprigs
  • 2 tbsp plain flour
  • 400ml chicken stock
  • 200ml milk
  • 500g pack puff pastry
  • 1 egg, beaten

Heat the oil in a large, non-stick frying pan.

Season the chicken and fry in batches until golden brown.

Remove the chicken from the pan and add the bacon. Fry for about 5 minutes or until crisp.

Add the onions, mushrooms and thyme, then fry on a high heat for about 3 minutes or until the onions start to colour.

Add the flour to the pan and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.

Take the pan off the heat and gradually whisk in the stock, followed by the milk, then return the chicken to the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes.

Spoon the filling into a large pie or baking dish (approx. 20 x 30 cm) with a lip and leave to cool.

Heat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7.

Roll the pastry out onto a floured surface. Cut a long strip as wide as the rim of the dish and, using a little of the egg, fix to the edge of the pie dish. Brush with egg, then lift the rest of the pastry onto the pie. Press the edges together with your fingers and  trim with a sharp knife. Brush lightly with egg to glaze and bake for 30 minutes or until risen and golden brown.

Serve with mashed potatoes and peas.

(Original recipe from BBC Good Food)

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