Mini Chicken Pies |
Mini pot pies the kids will love, plus you can make them ahead and freeze them for a quick mid-week dinner.
Preparation on: 25–30 minutes
Cooking: 30–35 minutes
Makes 4 individual pies
Suitable for freezing
Ingredients
- 45g (1½oz) butter
- 1 small shallot, diced
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and diced
- ½ small leek, thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
- 4 tsp white wine vinegar
- 20g (¾oz) cornflour
- 400ml (14fl oz) hot chicken stock
- 2 tbsp crème fraîche
- Salt and pepper
- 500g (1lb 2oz) potatoes, peeled and cubed
- 3 tbsp milk
- 225g (8oz) skinless, boneless chicken
- breast, cut into thin, bite-size slices
- 1 egg white, lightly beaten (optional)
Directions
1. Melt 30g (1oz) butter and sweat the vegetables with the thyme for 10 minutes until soft. Add the vinegar and boil until it has evaporated. Stir in the cornflour, then add the stock a little at a time, stirring, to make a smooth sauce. Add the crème fraîche and season to taste with salt and pepper. Allow the sauce to cool.
2. Cook the potatoes in plenty of boiling salted water for about 15 minutes until just tender. Drain the potatoes, then mash well. Beat in the remaining butter and the milk, and season to taste.
3. Divide the chicken among four ramekins or small ovenproof dishes (I use 9.5cm/scant 4in diameter ramekins) and spoon the sauce on top. Cover with the mash and fork the surface to mark lines.
4. Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan), gas 6. Put the dish(es) on a baking tray and bake for 30 minutes. If the pies are fridge-cold, bake for an extra 5 minutes. The tops can be browned further under a hot grill – if you brush them with a little egg white, they will brown nicely.
Note: To freeze, wrap the potato-topped pies well; thaw overnight in the fridge before baking.
Sweating the vegetables slowly with thyme and then reducing the white wine vinegar gives a lovely flavour to the filling for these pies. If you cut the chicken across the grain into thin slices, it breaks up the fibres and helps make the chicken very tender.
More First Meals Canadian Edition by Annabel Karmel
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Sheila Munn | June 1, 2010 at 7:43 am - §
reading your recipe I realize that I don't have a clue what creme fraiche is. Help!!!
Cara | June 1, 2010 at 10:11 am - §
I made these last night with a few modifications! Shallots - used Sweet Vidalia Onions. For Creme Fraiche - Whipping Cream. White Wine Vinegar - White Cooking Wine. I don't have any small ramekins so I used 2 large frozen pie crusts. I poured the mixture in and topped with the Mashed potatoes and cooked them at 400F for about 30 minutes, they were delicious!
Laura | June 2, 2010 at 10:52 am - §
what is cornflour - cornmeal?
LP | July 10, 2010 at 7:28 pm - §
So far so good. I've not tasted it yet but it smells delicious and looks pretty good too! Sheila - Creme Fraiche is a very thick/rich cream you can readily buy in the UK and France but it's only in specialty shops here. Like Cara, I used equal portions of whipping cream instead. Not quite the same but the overall taste is similar.Laura - No cornflour is not cornmeal and they serve very different purposes with cooking/baking. Cornflour can be substituted 1 Tbsp cornflour = 2 Tbsp of flour. In this recipe it is acting as a thickening agent.I substituted white wine vinegar for plain white vinegar... We shall see how that turns out. I had no leeks and I also subbed the shallot for Vidalia onions. Also no small ramekins here so it went in one large dish.
LP | July 11, 2010 at 10:49 pm - §
Well it seems we have a new favourite in our house. We didn't eat it hot out of the oven but rather the following night reheated in the microwave. It was delicious! To quote DH (I sent it to work with him), "Best Chicken Pot Pie Ever! YUM YUM… I’m gonna get me some more for my tum… when I get home!"
Val | March 26, 2012 at 12:43 pm - §
Cornflour is cornstarch. Substituting flour would result in a thicker pastier sauce.