Chicken Pies

(All Recipes have Gluten-Free Options)

Deconstructed Chicken, Porcini, Pancetta and Sage Pies with Cavolo Nero (Serves 4)

The filling of these pies is very tasty, the dried porcini give it a deliciously robust flavour. The individual pastry lids mean that you can serve up gluten-free options if required, or for a lighter supper, simply serve the chicken mixture with the cavolo nero. The pastry lids would work just as well with any sort of stew or casserole – a great idea for serving up leftovers!…

500g skinless chicken breasts

25g dried porcini

1 chicken stock cube

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 small red onions sliced into half-moons

1 large garlic clove, finely chopped

100g smoked pancetta, cubed

20g fresh sage leaves, chopped

150g portabellini mushrooms, roughly chopped

½ tablespoon cornflour

250g créme fraiche

320g Ready rolled puff pastry (gluten-free if required)

1 egg, beaten

400g cavolo nero (or savoy cabbage)

  1. Put the porcini in a bowl with the stock cube and 250ml boiling water, leave to rehydrate for 5 minutes, then drain, reserving the liquid; roughly chop and set aside until needed.
  2. Season the chicken and place on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and cook in a preheated oven, 160’c fan, for 25 minutes or until the juices run clear; chop and set aside until needed.
  3. Add the oil to a large frying pan and gently sauté the onions over a low heat for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. Increase the heat and add the pancetta and sage, stirring for 2-3 minutes until the pancetta is golden brown.
  4. Add the drained, roughly chopped porcini, cook for a further 2 minutes. Pour in the reserved porcini liquid and the portabellini mushrooms, then continue to cook for 2 minutes.
  5. Mix the cornflour and crème fraiche together and add to the pan. Bring to the boil to thicken, then remove from the heat. Stir in the chopped chicken and set aside until needed.
  6. Unroll the pastry and cut out 4 round lids – a small saucer approx.12cm diameter makes a good template. Gently score a pattern into the pastry. Brush a little beaten egg over the top of each lid and place on a baking tray. Cook in a preheated oven, 180’c fan for about 20 minutes, until puffed and golden brown.
  7. Meanwhile, cook the cavolo nero, cut out the bitter stem from the leaves and discard and roughly chop the leaves. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Drop in the cavolo nero and cook for 3-4 mins until wilted and darker in colour.
  8. Just before serving bring the chicken mixture to the boil. Divide the cavolo nero between four plates, then top with the reheated chicken ‘filling’ and an individual pastry lid.

Chicken Pot Parmentier (Serves 6)

This is an elegant yet comforting dish, I must admit that it’s not the quickest of recipes, but the result is definitely worth it! The tasty chicken filling is topped with buttery mash – a french take on a shepherds pie, but dare I say it, better?!…I have taken the recipe from David Leibovitz’s wonderful cookbook, ‘My Paris Kitchen’.

500g chicken breasts

1 litre chicken stock

3 carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery sticks, diced

8 shallots, peeled and halved

85g butter

60g plain flour (gluten-free if required)

1 clove garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons dry white wine

130g peas

2 tablespoons tarragon, finely chopped

2 tablespoons flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon freshy ground black pepper

For the potato topping:

1.2kg potatoes (such as Maris Piper), peeled and cut into large chunks

85g butter, cubed at room temperature plus 2 tablespoons melted

1 teaspoon sea salt

3 large egg yolks

80ml double cream

Freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

  1. First of all cook the chicken breasts by dropping them into a pan of boiling water, turn off the heat and cover. Leave for about 15 minutes by which time they should be cooked through (if they are very large cut them in half). Allow to cool before cutting into bitesize chunks and set aside.
  2. To make the filling, heat the stock in a saucepan over a medium heat with the carrots, celery and shallots. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are almost tender. Turn off the heat and set aside.
  3. Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly for 2 minutes. Whisk in a few ladlefuls of the warm stock into the flour mixture. Gradually add all the stock, including the vegetables, stirring as you go. Cook for about 10 minutes until the sauce has thickened. During the last minutes of cooking add the garlic and white wine.
  4. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chunks of chicken, peas, tarragon, parsley, salt and pepper. Taste, adding more seasoning if necessary. Pour the mixture into a shallow baking dish (2.5/3litre) and set on a baking sheet.
  5. To make the potato topping, cook the potatoes until tender (either steam them or cook in a pan of boiling water). Drain, then mash with the cubed butter and salt. Let the mashed potatoes cool for about 5 minutes before stirring in the egg yolks. Finally stir in the cream, a generous amount of pepper and the nutmeg.
  6. Spread the mash over the chicken filling and dribble over the melted butter with a pastry brush. Bake in a preheated oven, 200’c fan, for 30 minutes until the potatoes are golden brown.

Chicken, Leek and Tarragon Gratin (Serves 3-4)

Such a good way to use up leftover cooked chicken but so delicious that it’s worth cooking a couple of chicken breasts to simply make it! Serve with peas or green beans.

*if you haven’t any leftover chicken simply add 2 chicken breasts to a pan of boiling water, remove from the heat and leave to poach for about 15-20 minutes until cooked through.

800g potatoes (such as maris piper)

400g leeks

4 spring onions

30g butter

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon plain flour (gluten free if required)

200ml white wine

400ml milk

400g cooked chicken (see note above)

A large bunch of fresh tarragon, leaves chopped

  1. Peel and boil the potatoes, drain and allow to cool before thinly slicing.
  2. Quarter the leeks lengthways, then hold them together and slice them across into small pieces. Chop the spring onions.
  3. Melt the butter with a tablespoon of oil in a deep frying pan, stir in the leeks and spring onions, cook over a medium heat until soft and patched with gold. Sprinkle over the flour, stirring until it has been absorbed, increase the heat a little and add the wine, stirring until thick, then stir in the milk. Simmer for a few minutes, stirring until the sauce has thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
  4. Tear the chicken into bite-size pieces and stir through the leek sauce along with the chopped tarragon. Pour into a baking dish and arrange the sliced potatoes , overlapping, over the top. Brush with olive oil.
  5. Bake in the oven, 200’c fan, for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes a golden and crisp.

Tarragon Chicken Pie (Serves 4)

This is an absolute favourite in our house and one which Felix insists that I cook when he is back from university! It is a recipe that I picked up from a magazine years ago and have tweaked over the years.

I’m gluten free, so unfortunately these days I can’t eat the pastry, but the filling is a treat in itself. I usually serve this with buttered new potatoes. I use ‘Jus Rol, Ready Rolled Puff Pastry’, they have started to make a gluten free puff pastry, I haven’t tried it, but I have heard mixed reviews so for the moment I will continue to be an unselfish ‘head cook’ and stick to the normal pastry that both Nick and Felix love! I prefer to use fresh chicken stock, but you could use a stock cube.

320g pack of ready rolled puff pastry (see note above)

1 tablespoon olive oil

15g butter

3 spring onions, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

75g diced pancetta

500g chicken breast, cut into bite size cubes

225ml chicken stock (see note above)

250g frozen peas

8-10 sprigs of tarragon

3 slices of Prosciutto ham, each slice rolled and cut into 2cm pieces/ribbons

2 tablespoons of double cream

Sea salt and black pepper

1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon of milk (for a glaze)

  1. First of all, take the pastry out of the fridge as it needs at least 20 minutes to come to room temperature. Preheat the oven 200’c fan.
  2. Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan, add the spring onions, shallots and pancetta, fry for 2-3 minutes.
  3. Add the chicken, season with salt and pepper and fry for another 5 minutes.
  4. Pour in the chicken stock and peas, bring to a simmer, and add the chopped leaves of 6-7 of the sprigs of tarragon. Cook for 5 minutes until the peas are tender.
  5. Stir in the prosciutto and the cream, pour into a pie dish. Sprinkle over the chopped leaves of the remaining tarragon.
  6. For the pastry top, gently lay out the pastry. Cut it into a circular shape to top the pie dish. I find that by cutting strips of the remaining pastry, pressing them around the rim of the pie dish and then topping with the pastry top, helps the pastry rise – see photo. I also cut out a few leaves for decoration, but obviously, this doesn’t affect the flavour so if you’re in a hurry I’d leave this out! Lightly score the pastry with a criss-cross pattern to help it rise and make sure you cut out a deep cross in the centre to allow the steam to escape during cooking. Brush over with the egg and milk glaze.
  7. Place in the preheated oven, bake for 25-30 minutes.
  8. Serve with new potatoes.