Chicken Pot Pie

This next dish is a house favourite. Since this dish is quite rich in content I had decided to downsize the pie into small ramekins rather than the big dish in which the pie is usually baked (and my hubby wasn’t super thrilled with this). I have gone for butter to enrich the pastry part of this pie, but vegetable fat would also improve the texture. The proportion of the flour to butter/fat for the pastry portion should be 2:1. As for the crust portion, to ensure a soft and flaky crust go for the short crust pastry (I am posting the recipe for the same in this blog separately). When baked in a big dish, this will be quite the main course material for the whole family!!! 

Ingredients

• 1 ½ chicken breast finely cut into cubes
• 1 medium onion chopped
• 1 carrot chopped
• ¼ cup frozen peas thawed
• 3 tbsp. butter
• 3 tbsp. plain flour
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 1 cup water
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Parsley chopped
• 1 egg beaten

Ina deep bottom non-stick pan, add 1 tbsp. olive oil. Add chicken pieces and season with salt and pepper; cook for about 5 minutes. Add onions and carrots. Cover and cook for about 2-4 minutes.  Add butter and flour and mix nicely until the raw taste of the flour goes. Add the chicken stock cube and parsley; mix nicely. Let it cook for a minute or two. Add 1 cup water and peas and simmer for 15 minutes.

Optional: Here at this point you can 1 tsp. thyme and add ¼ cup heavy cream. I dint use it.

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Pour the mixture into ramekins or any small pie pan. Let it cool.

 Roll out the puff pastry onto a lightly floured board and using the bowl as a stick to the guide, cut the dough into the same shape as the bowl making sure it’s about 1 inch bigger so it will sides.

 Evenly distribute the filling between the bowls and using a pastry brush, brush the sides of the bowls with the egg wash and cover them with the puff pastry making sure to seal the sides against the bowl.

Brush the tops with egg wash. Make a little incision with a knife. Place the filled bowls on a baking sheet and cook in the preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes or until you get golden crust.