Country Style Chicken And Tarragon Pie  

Preparation Time 15 minutes Cooking Time 135 minutes

Ingredients (serves 6)

40g (1/4 cup) plain flour
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1kg chicken thigh fillets, * coarsely chopped
2 tbs olive oil
1 brown onion, halved, coarsely chopped
2 celery sticks, trimmed, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, peeled, coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
500ml (2 cups) water
1 chicken stock cube
250g cauliflower florets
2 tbs thin cream
1 tbs coarsely chopped fresh tarragon
1 sheet (25 x 25cm) ready-rolled frozen puff pastry, just thawed.

Method

Place flour in a bowl and season with salt and pepper. Coat the chicken with flour and shake off any excess. Heat half the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add one-third of the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes or until brown. Transfer to a heatproof bowl. Repeat, in 2 more batches, with the remaining chicken, reheating pan between batches. 2. Heat remaining oil in the same pan. Add onion, celery, carrot and garlic and cook, stirring, for 3 minutes or until onion softens. Add chicken, water and stock cube. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, for 1 hour or until chicken is tender. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until sauce thickens. Add the cauliflower and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender. Remove from heat. Stir in the cream and tarragon. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Preheat oven to 200°C. Spoon chicken mixture among two 1L (4-cup) capacity ovenproof dishes. Brush edges of dishes with water. Cut pastry in half. Top each pie with pastry and lightly press the edges to seal. Cut a small cross in the top of each pie. Bake in oven for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden and puffed.