Poached chicken, leek and tarragon pie
This comforting pastry-topped pie is filled with succulent poached chicken and a creamy tarragon and mustard sauce.
Ingredients
For the poached chicken
- 1 good-quality chicken
- olive oil, for frying
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 2 celery sticks, roughly chopped
- 1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 bay leaves
- pinch salt
For the pie
- 6 rashers good-quality smoked streaky bacon, rind removed then cut into chunks
- 30g/1oz unsalted butter
- 3 celery sticks, halved lengthways then sliced
- 3 large leeks, cleaned and chopped into 2cm/¾in rounds
- 600ml/20fl oz poaching broth, from the chicken (made above)
- 50²µ/1¾´Ç³ú plain flour
- 150ml/5fl oz white wine
- 200ml/7fl oz double cream
- 1 heaped tbsp Dijon mustard
- 20g/¾oz fresh tarragon, finely chopped
- 1 free-range egg
- 2x 320g sheets ready-made all-butter puff pastry
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
Method
To make the poached chicken, start by cutting the chicken in half lengthways; you can ask your butcher to do this for you, but it’s very easy to do yourself. Take a pair of kitchen scissors or shears and cut along one side of the spine as if you were spatchcocking the chicken. Then do the same down the breast.
Season generously with salt all over and leave in the fridge for about an hour for the salt to penetrate.
After the hour, get a large heavy-based pot that can ideally fit both halves of the chicken, drizzle in a splash of oil and place over a high heat. When the oil is shimmering, fry the two pieces of chicken on both sides until golden-brown all over – the more caramelisation the better. You can do this in two batches if your pot isn’t quite big enough to take both pieces of chicken in a single layer.
When the chicken is browned, add the veg along with the bay leaves. Top up with enough water so that the chicken is just covered. Season generously with salt and bring up to a very gentle simmer with the lid on for 30 minutes, until the chicken is just cooked through.
When ready, remove the chicken from the pot and leave to cool. Once cool, strip the chicken meat from the carcass and place it in a bowl, making sure to get the meat from every nook and cranny! I like the skin in my pie but if you don’t, put it back into the stock pot along with all the bones and gristle.
Put this pan back on the heat and simmer to extract all the goodness from the bones while you get on with the rest of the cooking. This can take around 20–30 minutes. This stock is what forms the sauce so you want it to be good.
To make the pie, place the bacon in a large pan with the butter and fry to render out the fat.
Add the celery and leeks along with a ladle of the chicken stock, then put the lid on and slowly cook until completely tender. This will take around 10 minutes. Take care not to break up the leeks too much – you want to retain their shape as much as possible.
At this point, strain the chicken stock and measure out 600ml/20fl oz. Taste the stock and season with salt as necessary.
Add the flour to the leeks and mix well, cooking for a few minutes, until the flour smells a little biscuity, then pour in the wine and mix again to create a claggy mess. Now add the chicken stock a ladle at a time, stirring until it is completely mixed in before adding the next ladle; this ensures there are no lumps.
When all the chicken stock has been added, turn off the heat and pour in the cream. Add the chicken meat, mustard and tarragon. Mix thoroughly and taste – adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper until it’s perfect. You may want a bit more mustard but be careful, as it can quickly take over.
The mix makes enough for two medium-sized pies. I get my pie dish and fill it for four people, then I freeze the rest in another dish as a ready-to-go, pastry-topped pie which is such a treat to have in the freezer. Bring the pie up to room temperature before cooking. It can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Preheat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/Gas 7. Whisk an egg and brush the rim of your pie dish. Place a sheet of ready-made pastry on top and crimp the edges using a fork. I like to leave a generous overhang, but if there’s any excess you can use this to make some decorations for the top of the pie.
Brush the top with more egg wash, then sprinkle with fennel seeds and season with salt and pepper. Repeat for the second pie. Pierce a hole in the middle for the steam to escape, then cook for about 30 minutes, until the top is golden-brown and puffed.
To serve, bring a pan of water to the boil. Add half the olive oil and the broccoli, cook for 6–8 minutes until it's very tender. Drain and then finish with the remaining olive oil and lemon juice. Serve with the pie.