Tarragon Chicken Pot Pie Recipe

This is a recipe for the most delicious tarragon chicken pie I made a few weeks ago. And it’s so simple! This dish was on GMTV Oscars day where they made individual pies and decorated with an Oscar design. It’s such a great recipe to cook for friends as it can be done in advance and perfect for the cooler Spring weather we’re experiencing and want something a little lighter but with some warmth and comfort. I served with carrots and long stemmed broccoli but a salad would work just as well and if you’re being better than I with calorie consumption you could simply enjoy the tarragon chicken without the puff pastry topping – although that would be a tragedy in my eyes!

Ingredients
70g plain flour

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 tsp sea salt

750g chicken breast fillets cut into 2cm dice

2 tbsp olive oil

2 leeks, white part only, sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

150ml chicken stock

4 tbsp crème fraiche

A small bunch of tarragon leaves chopped

375g ready-rolled all butter puff pastry

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Combine flour, cayenne pepper and salt in a shallow bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat, shaking off any excess flour.

2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a high heat. Add chicken and stir-fry for 2-3 minutes or until light golden. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.

3. Return pan to a medium heat; add leeks and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until soft. Add stock and crème fraiche, simmer gently for 5 minutes, then return the chicken to the pan and cook for 1-2 minutes further. Remove from heat, season and stir through the tarragon.

4. You will need 4 individual pie dishes. Using an upside down dish as a guide, cut out a round of pastry for the pie lid(s), allowing an extra 1cm all round. Spoon the filling into the dishes. Brush the rims with egg and top with the pastry lids pushing down the edges around the rim. Brush tops with egg yolk and pierce the top of each pie. Use any pastry trimmings to cut out Oscar figurines and use these to decorate the top of your pies.

5. Brush decorations with egg and bake for 20-30 minutes until golden. Cool for 5 minutes before serving with a crisp green salad.

Do let me know if you give this a whirl, I would love to know if you think this is amazing as I do! Who’s hungry?

- Thanks so much to Victoria from Florence and Mary for this lovely recipe!