No one can resist a delicious cake. While apple pie generally ranks as the favorite, chicken pot pie is a very close second.
Why is chicken pot pie recipe such a popular dish among housewives and their families? On the one hand, chicken pot pie can already be considered a complete meal due to the protein and carbohydrates you can get from the chicken meat and crust, respectively, and the necessary fiber from the legumes and vegetables you add to the filling. .
However, because you can find chicken pies pretty much everywhere, they have been unfairly labeled “ordinary” food. Some not-so-discriminating folks have even gone so far as to claim that all chicken pot pie tastes the same, despite the fact that there are thousands of varieties of chicken pot pie recipes that you can find all over the internet.
This comment cannot be said of the chicken pies made by culinary experts in the world’s leading five-star restaurants today. Just watch reality cooking shows on TV and you’ll see Master Chefs transform humble chicken pot pie into a gourmet delight.
A good example of a gourmet chicken pie recipe is Chef David Coulson’s creation of Chicken and Mushroom Pie on the popular BBC cooking competition show “MasterChef” The Professionals”. Try this recipe in your own kitchen and discover the culinary magic that a Master Chef can weave into a humble chicken pot pie recipe…
MasterChef David Coulson’s Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Ingredients for the Chicken:
1 large whole chicken
olive oil, for drizzling
Salt
freshly ground black pepper
100ml/3½ fluid ounces chicken broth
3½ fl. oz./100 ml Madeira
Ingredients for the Sauce:
1 ounce/25g butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 small carrots }
1 celery stalk } Make sure these 4 ingredients are finely chopped
1 shallot }
1 clove garlic }
1 leek, cleaned and sliced
100g/3½oz mixed mushrooms (ideally morels and chanterelles), cleaned and chopped
5 fl oz/150 ml dry white wine
3½ fl oz/100 ml double cream
4 large flat mushrooms (remove stems)
Ingredients for the Pastry:
225g/8oz prepared puff pastry
flour, for dusting
1 free-range egg, beaten
Instructions:
1) Preheat your oven to 200C or 400F or Gas 6.
2) Using a boning knife, cut off the legs and wings of the chicken and set aside. Carefully cut out the breasts. Drizzle the breasts with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Wrap chicken breasts tightly in plastic wrap and set aside.
3) Place the chicken legs on a roasting pan and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Grill the legs for 30 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked through (prick the thickest part of the leg with a fork or skewer to see if the juices run clear). Baste the chicken as many times as needed while it cooks.
3) Unwrap chicken breasts from plastic wrap. Sauté the breasts for 20 minutes (or until cooked) in a saucepan with boiling water. Carefully shred meat into a bowl and set aside.
4) Let your Madeira and chicken broth in your small skillet simmer for a few minutes before adding the chicken wings. Cook wings for 20 minutes, or until cooked through. Set the wings aside, but keep their cooking broth in reserve.
5) Cook the sauce by heating butter and 1 tablespoon vegetable oil in a skillet. Gently fry the carrots, celery, leek and shallot for 4-5 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the garlic and mushrooms along with the remaining oil and fry gently for another 4-5 minutes. Pour in the wine and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the cream. Put the shredded chicken leg meat.
6) Lay the mushrooms flat on a baking sheet and pour the mushroom sauce on top.
7) For the dough, start by rolling out the puff pastry on a floured surface. Using a pastry cutter, stamp out circles the same size as the flat mushrooms you have arranged on your baking sheet. Place the dough on a separate baking sheet. Prick the surface with a fork or skewer. Paint the dough with the beaten egg. Bake this along with the stuffed mushrooms for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they have risen nicely and are golden brown.
8) To serve, cut the chicken breast into thick slices with a knife. Remove all the bones from the chicken wings. Arrange the mushrooms on a serving plate. Arrange a circle of dough on top and at an angle. Place chicken breast and wing meats on the side. Reheat the reserved chicken broth and Madeira sauce and drizzle over the dish. Garnish the cake with fresh thyme. Serve with creamed potatoes.