Country Chicken Pie

After having a bbq at the weekend, full of marinated spicy chicken and Thai pork burgers, come Monday night we were craving comfort food. After a busy day, I picked up some chicken breasts on the way home from meetings and pondered on what to make.

As far as I am aware, Shepherds Pie is lamb mince with mashed potatoes. And Cottage Pie is with beef. I realised that I had never had one in that style make with chicken. I think its because you rarely see minced chicken that these thoughts don't occur - its a bit like my Spaghetti Chickenase (recipe here) - so why not? So here is my version which I have called Country Chicken Pie.

Ingredients:

2 large (or 3 medium) chicken breasts, chopped finely
1 tbsp. oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chicken stock cube
3 tbsp. flour
3 cups chicken stock (about
1/2 tsp thyme
1 tbsp. dried parsley
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
100g frozen peas
salt & pepper
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
3-4 white potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
knob of butter


Method:

Boil the potatoes in boiling water for about 15 minutes until soft. Drain and mash with a knob of butter and season with salt & pepper. Set to one side.

In a large pan, fry the onion until translucent and then add the garlic. Cook for another few minutes and add the chicken. Cook on a high heat, stirring, until cooked through. Turn down the heat to medium and crumble in the stock cube and the flour, stirring to incorporate. Then add the stock a cup at a time to get a thick sauce consistency. Add the peas, herbs, mustard, Worcestershire sauce and some salt & pepper and let cook on a low heat for five minutes. Pour into a pie dish and top with the mashed potatoes.

Cook in the oven (180 C) for 30 minutes, or until bubbling and the top is nicely browning. Serve with vegetables.  Delicious!