Velvet Chicken Pie

Serves 4

• 2 or 3 skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite sized chunks
• 1 tbsp cornflour
• 1 egg- separated
• flavourless oil, eg Vegetable
• drop or two of milk
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• lemon juice
• large handful of dill and chives, finely chopped
• very small handful of parsley, finely chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 sage leaves
• celeriac; cut into cubes, roughly the same size as the chicken
• ½ pint of chicken stock
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 big tablespoons of double cream
• puff pastry
• butter
• salt and pepper

Velveting the chicken

Mix the cornflour and egg white – just enough to mix. Don’t let it froth or you’ll end up with a batter! Add a bit of oil to make a gloop and coat the chicken. Set aside in the fridge for half an hour.

Heat up enough oil to submerge the chicken, which you will probably need to cook in batches. The oil needs to be relatively cool; it browns a cube of bread very slowly, but a piece of chicken should float instantly.

The idea here is to cook the chicken for about 30-60 seconds; long enough for the meat to turn white – you don’t want any colour or it will go hard and chewy. Drain it and it’s ready to get pied up.

In the meantime

Roll out and cut the puff pastry to make nice, round little pie tops. I don’t want to enter into the debate about “what a pie really is”, so think of this as something to soak up the sauce! Make an egg wash with the yolk and a little milk, and brush over the tops. Bake them as per the instructions on the pack (can’t believe I just wrote that!), so they are lovely, golden brown and all crispy and puffy.

The filling

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan (I love Rapeseed oil for this, but any will do) and get it nice and hot. Add the chicken and crushed garlic, season and cook until the chicken starts to brown. At this point add half the dill and chives, a big squeeze of lemon and a knob of butter.

Allow the liquid to all-but evaporates so that it leaves a coating of herbs and lemon juice on the chicken. Remove from the pan.

In the same pan, add the celeriac with a touch more oil if necessary. On a medium heat, push it around to pick up all that’s left in the pan from the chicken. Once it’s starting to colour, add the chicken stock, sage and bay, then cover and cook until tender. Top up with more chicken stock if needed; you don’t want it to boil dry as it’s going to form the base of our sauce.

Bring it together

Return the chicken to the pan with the celeriac. Stir in the cream, the mustard, the rest of the herbs, and check for seasoning and thickness. The right sauce thickness is the key to any great pie!

The sauce should be light and herby, yet thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon and leave a trail when you wipe it with a finger. If it’s too thick, add more stock. Too thin, try whisking in arrowroot or boiling it down depending on the quantity of liquid left.

Serve by piling some of the filling on a plate or in a one-person pie dish and ‘cover it’ with a pastry top. I like to serve this with boiled potatoes and green beans. Now, where is that open fire?