Everyday Comfort
Katie Pix
Quadrille, £25. Photography Izy Hossack.
Try This Warming Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
Is there anything better than homemade chicken pie? We think not
Quick, easy and absolutely delicious, get autumn off to a great start with this crowd-pleaser from Katie Pix's new book Everyday Comfort.
Serves
4
Total time
1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
- FOR THE HERBY POLENTA LID
- 250ml hot vegetable stock
- 75g polenta (fine cornmeal)
- 1 large free-range egg, beaten, plus extra for the egg wash
- Handful of chopped parsley
- FOR THE FILLING
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 2cm chunks
- 1 tbsp plain (all-purpose) flour
- 1 leek, finely sliced
- 150g mushrooms, finely sliced
- Good pinch of salt
- 2 tsp dried tarragon or ½ bunch of fresh tarragon, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Dijon mustard
- 4 tbsp reduced-fat crème fraîche
- About 200ml vegetable stock
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C (200C fan/gas 7).
Place the stock in a pan set over a low–medium heat. Once hot, pour in the polenta while stirring continuously. Once combined, lower the heat, cover and stir every five minutes or so for 15–20 minutes until the stock has been absorbed and the polenta has thickened. Remove from the heat and beat in the egg and parsley.
Pour the polenta mixture onto a lined and greased baking tray, then shape it to the same dimensions of your chosen pie dish, to create your pie lid. Brush the polenta with egg wash and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
While that is cooking, make your filling. Heat the oil in a shallow casserole pan set over a high heat, add the chicken and cook until crisping and turning golden. Sprinkle over the flour, making sure it’s well distributed, then stir well so the chicken is coated.
Add the leek, mushrooms and salt to the pan, then drop the temperature a little and cook and sweat the veggies until they begin to soften (if using dried tarragon, add that now). Stir in the mustard and the crème fraîche, then pour in the stock little by little, until you have a thick and generous sauce. Allow everything to come up to a simmer (if using fresh tarragon, add it now) for a couple of minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
Carefully invert your baked polenta lid on top of the pie filling (so it is now upside down with the glazed side face-down). Brush the topside of the polenta with egg wash, then place the pan into the oven for 30 minutes, until the pie is golden and bubbling.
NOTES
Fresh tarragon should be used raw or added towards the end of cooking; if left to cook a long time, the flavour will turn bitter. Dried tarragon is added early on in recipes but will not create the same effect as fresh, due to its diminished flavour.
