Herby Spring Chicken Pot Pie Food

HERBY SPRING CHICKEN POT PIE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Heat the oil in a large, shallow casserole dish on a medium heat. Add the spring onions and fry for 3 mins, then stir through the frozen spinach and cook for 2 mins or until it's starting to wilt. Remove the skin from the chicken and discard. Shred the chicken off the bone and into the pan, and discard the bones. Stir through the stock and mustard. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for 5-10 mins.
• Stir in the peas, crème fraîche and herbs, then remove from the heat. Scrunch the filo pastry sheets over the mixture, brush with a little oil and bake for 15-20 mins or until golden brown.

CHICKEN POT PIE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
• Place a 30cm non-stick ovenproof frying pan on a high heat, with a smaller non-stick pan on a medium heat alongside. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into the larger pan.
• Peel and roughly chop the onions, adding them to the larger pan as you go.
• Roughly chop two- thirds of the thighs, finely chop the rest, and add to the onion pan. Cook for 6 minutes, or until golden, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, place the mushrooms in the dry pan, tearing up any larger ones. Let them toast and get nutty for 4 minutes, then tip into the chicken pan and strip in half the thyme leaves.
• Remove the pan from the heat, add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then stir in 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar and 150ml of water.
• Working quickly, roll out the pastry so it's 2cm bigger than the pan, then place it over the filling, using a wooden spoon to push it into the edges.
• Very lightly criss-cross the pastry, then brush with 1 teaspoon of olive oil. Poke the remaining thyme sprigs into the middle of the pie.
• Bake at the bottom of the oven for 15 minutes, or until golden and puffed up. Easy!

CHICKEN STEW WITH HERB DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• To cook the chicken: Place the chicken, carrot, celery, onion, bay leaf, peppercorns and salt in a large pot. Add cold water until chicken is just covered and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to a bare simmer and cook for 45 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pot and let cool for 15 minutes. While the chicken is cooling, continue to boil the remaining water and vegetables in the pot. When the chicken has cooled enough to touch, strip away as much of the meat as you can. Return the chicken bones to the stockpot and continue to boil, on high heat, until the stock has reduced to approximately 3 cups. While the stock is reducing, cut up the chicken meat into pieces you'd like to see on the end of your fork. Strain stock through a sieve or colander. Press down on solids slightly to extract more stock. Discard solids (chicken bones and veggies). (the chicken and stock can be cooked up to a day ahead and kept refrigerated). Remove the layer of fat that forms on top of the stock after it has been refrigerated, and discard.
• Prepare the filling: In a large saucepan, melt butter on medium heat. Add the onions, fennel, carrots, celery, mushrooms and garlic, and cook until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring, one minute more. Add potatoes, peas, stock, coconut milk, oregano, thyme (or fines herbes) and nutmeg. Season to taste. Decrease the heat to low and simmer for 8 minutes, stirring often (you can make dumplings at this point). Stir in the chicken and 2 tblpss parsley.
• Prepare the dumplings: Mix flour, baking powder, salt, oregano and parsley in a medium bowl. Combine egg and milk and stir into dry ingredients. Mix gently with a fork until a soft dough is formed.
• Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of dumpling dough on the surface of the chicken stew (you should get about 15 dumplings); cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked through, about 15 minutes. Do not peek - the steam is what cooks your dumplings through.
• Spoon portions of chicken, sauce, vegetables, and dumplings into soup plates and serve immediately.