Recipe: Chicken Pot Pie

Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 4

1 (3-1/2 to 4-pound) chicken, wings removed, washed, and dried
1 medium tomato, blanched and peeled
2 cups chicken stock, homemade or low-sodium canned
3 small carrots, cut into 2-inch julienne
2 small turnips, peeled and quartered
8 small white onions, blanched and peeled
1/4 pound small string beans, trimmed
1/3 cup fresh or frozen peas
6 tablespoons unsalted cold butter, cut into chunks
1 small black truffle, thinly sliced and julienned (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 pound homemade puff pastry, or 1 defrosted frozen puff pastry sheet
1 egg beaten

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Place the chicken in a round 3-quart ovenproof tureen.

Core the tomato, cut into eighths, and remove the seeds.

Chicken Pot Pie

In a medium saucepan, bring the broth to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Add the carrots, turnips, onions, string beans, and peas and cook for 3 minutes. Strain, reserving the broth. Cool the vegetables under cold running water, and drain. Add the vegetables and tomato (and frozen peas, if using) to the tureen. Dot with butter and sprinkle with the optional truffle. Season with salt and pepper.

Roll out the puff pastry on a lightly floured cold surface, to about a 3/16-inch thickness. Cut out a circle of pastry about 2 inches larger than the diameter of the tureen. Brush the circle lightly with the beaten egg. Fit it over the tureen, brushed side-down, pressing the overhanging pastry against the sides of the tureen. Brush the top side lightly with additional egg. Bake for 10 minutes. Carefully cover the pastry loosely with heavy aluminum foil and continue baking for 35 minutes until puffed and golden brown. Turn the oven off. Leave the tureen in the closed oven for 20 minutes, then remove.

Bring the tureen to the table and carefully cut off the crust, just inside the rim. Set the crust aside. Remove the bird and carve it on a separate platter. Serve in warm soup plates with the vegetables, juices, and a bit of the crust.

From:
The Best of Christopher Idone
by Christopher Idone
Stewart, Tabori & Chang
127 pages; 1997
ISBN: I-55670-553-0
Recipes and photos reprinted by permission.