Another Chicken Pie

Different versions of chicken pie seem to have made fairly regular appearances on the menu of late. What can I say? It's easy, it's great to make the night before you want it, and I usually end up with leftovers - sometimes for the next day's lunch and sometimes even enough for an easy word-day dinner.

This was a first effort from a new-ish recipe book. That is, I've had it awhile I just hadn't got around to using it yet. It's one I saw and couldn't resist (though I did wait till the price was heavily reduced as justification LOL) and though it has lots of interesting ideas none truly fitted what I was after until now. I also have to admit that I just don't love the way the recipes are written - I like them all laid out nicely in order so I can get organised and know what has to happen next. No, it's not hard to follow these recipes it just takes a slightly different brain to the one I have. I made a couple of slight changes to the recipe - I only had 1 1/2 cups of stock and I used just under 1 cup of sour cream in the place of the whipping cream. Oh, I added corn too.

Chicken and Vegetable Pot Pie

3 Ways With... Ross Dobson

Have your oven hot and ready at 220C. Heat 60g butter in a frying pan. When sizzling hot, add 1 chopped carrot and 2 chopped celery stalks and stir-fry for a few minutes. Add 2 tablespoons plain flour and cook for 2 minutes (it should thickly coat the vegetables) but be careful not to burn the flour). Add the chopped meat from half a barbecued chicken, 1/2 cup peas and a handful of chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley. Stir around for a minute then add 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup whipping cream. Season well and slowly bring to the boil, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. Spoon into an ovenproof dish and top with some puff pastry, trimmed to fit the dish, or a layer of potato mash and bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry is golden.