Chicken Pot Pie

Serves 8
Ingredients:
Pie Crust:

• 500g flour of your choice

• 250g softened butter

• 1tsp salt

• 110ml water

Filling:

• 1 whole chicken

• 2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 litre or 1 tbs of powdered chicken stock

• 2 brown onions

• 5 cloves of garlic

• 1 small capsicum

• handful of frozen peas, beans, broccoli mix

• 300g ricotta

• salt and pepper to taste

Method

To make the filling, in a pot add the entire chicken, paprika and stock. Cover with water then place a lid on and cook.
I use a pressure cooker, which can be done in 15-20 mins. If using a regular pot, this may take up to an hour.

While the chicken is cooking, you can make the pie crust.
Place the flour, salt and soft butter in a bowl.
Rub the flour and butter together using your fingertips. Do this until the flour resembles breadcrumbs.
Add the water in two parts, and knead the mix until it forms a dough. You may need a splash of more water.
Separate the dough into two parts, one for the base and one for the lid.
Cover them in cling wrap and place in the fridge for the butter to harden once again.

Once the chicken is cooked, remove it from the stock water and peel the skin off. Remove any meat from the carcass and shred it into relatively lard chunks. Set aside.

In another pot, sweat the onions and capsicum for a little bit, then add the garlic and fry until slightly golden. Add any vegetables you are adding to your pie in this stage and cook accordingly.

Add a ladle of the chicken stock to the pan to deglaze then stir in the the pulled chicken, salt and pepper and allow the stock to mostly evaporate.
Remove from the heat and add the ricotta. The little bit of non-evaporated stock in the pan should make it really easy to stir the ricotta through.

Preheat the oven to 190C

Line a medium-sized, oven-proof pot using baking paper or if you are making it in a ceramic oven dish this should not be necessary.
Roll the pastry dough for the base on a silicon mat or sheet of baking paper using a rolling pin or any bottle if you don't have one.
Do not roll the dough directly onto the bench or it will stick.

Place the dough in the lined pot and use your finger tips to mend any holes or patches you may need to fix or add for the base to be uniform.
Fill the base with the filling.

Roll out the lid and cover the filling with it.

Fold and overhang from the top towards the centre of the pie to form a thicker edge.
Make a couple of holes on the top of the pie to allow steam to escape.
Crack an egg in a bowl and brush it over the top of the pie.
Place in the oven for about 40mins or until the pie is golden on top.
Enjoy with a side salad.

Change it up!

Swap outs

Ricotta

• sour cream

• cottage cheese

• cream cheese

• cashew cream

Whole Chicken

• breasts

• thighs

• mixture of the two above

• firm tofu

• veg mix - I made a vegetarian version of this pie recently check it out.

Add Ons

• herbs

• corn