Chicken Pie

Restaurant-quality chicken pie with spatchcocked roast chicken, sauce suprême, and golden puff pastry.

Ingredients

Heat oven to 190°C.
Place chicken breast-side down with the parson’s nose towards you. Cut through the ribs from the parson’s nose to the neck on both sides to remove the spine — keep the spine for roasting.
Turn chicken over and press firmly to splay and flatten it.
Pat the chicken and backbone dry, place in a roasting tray, and rub all over with olive oil and salt.
Roast for 30 minutes, or until the juices run clear from the thickest part. Rest.

Peel and cut the filling shallots into 2cm chunks. Quarter the mushrooms. Finely slice the lardons.
Heat a dash of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Sauté the garnish until golden. Set aside.

Remove all meat from the carcass, keeping the carcass, roasted backbone, and one leg bone aside (these will support the pastry lid).
Drain the roasting fat into a small bowl and reserve 25g for the sauce.
Cut the chicken meat into bite-sized pieces. Set aside.

Increase oven to 200°C. Break up the carcass and return to the roasting tray with the backbone and leg bone. Roast for 20 minutes until deep golden.
Thinly slice the sauce shallots and crush the garlic. Add to a large sauté pan with a dash of olive oil and sauté until light golden.
Add the roasted bones and continue to sauté until they colour slightly.
Add the white wine, bay, rosemary, and thyme. Reduce by two-thirds.
Add the chicken stock, reduce to a simmer, and reduce by half, skimming fat occasionally.
Strain through a fine sieve into a clean pan, discarding solids.
Whisk in the cream and return to medium heat, reducing to a light coating consistency.
Mash together the flour, reserved chicken fat, marmite, and dijon to form a beurre manié. Whisk into the sauce.
Continue whisking until the sauce thickens and begins to bubble.

Stir the chicken and garnish through the sauce.
Finely chiffonade the parsley and tarragon, stir through the sauce, and season with salt and black pepper. Allow to cool completely.

Roll two-thirds of the puff pastry to about 3mm thick. Line a buttered pie dish, leaving pastry overhanging the edges. Trim to a neat edge. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll the remaining pastry to about 6mm thick. Place the pie dish upside down on top and cut around the perimeter to make the lid. (If using pre-rolled sheets, brush one sheet with egg wash and layer a second sheet on top, aligning the edges.) Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 180°C fan.
Fill the lined pie dish with the cooled chicken filling.
Brush the pastry lid with egg wash. Place the lid and filled dish side by side in the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Remove both from the oven. Brush the pastry rim of the pie dish with egg wash, then carefully place the puffed lid on top.
Return to the oven for 10 minutes.
Rest for 10 minutes before serving.

	Serves 4	Serves 6
Calories	~1565 kcal	~1045 kcal
Protein	~45g	~30g

Keep the roasted leg or wing bone to prop the pastry lid while baking so it stays level and doesn’t slide.
Allow the filling to cool fully before assembling — hot filling will make the pastry soggy.
The beurre manié (flour + fat mixture) gives the sauce body without lumps; whisk it in off the heat if needed.
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41Kt91N4K34