Chicken, Leek, And Tarragon Pie
On April 29th, 2011 I made this chicken, leek, and tarragon pie for a William and Kate royal wedding viewing-party I attended at my mom’s house. The festivities began at 2 am. My mom and I made coffee, got under a blanket on her couch and excitedly watched London on the news. By 6 am we were popping open champagne and digging into this pie. At 7 am we drunkenly took my dog, Sammy, for a walk. Finally at noon, I fell asleep (passed out), and probably around 2 pm woke up and started eating more of this pie. It was a good wedding. It was a good pie too.
I used my go-to pie pastry for the crust. You can get the recipe here. Just omit the sugar, and boom you’ve got yourself pastry for a savory pie.
The process for the filling is easy, but does take some time. You start by boiling a whole chicken in water with carrots, celery, onions and fresh tarragon. Then you make the cream sauce using cream, leeks, onions, and some of the stock you’ve made. Finally, you cut up all of the chicken and add it to the sauce with some salt and pepper to taste.
With left over pastry, I cut out little leaves using a tiny leaf pastry-cutter, although, you could do this with a knife.
I brushed on heavy cream on top of the pastry, then sprinkled a teaspoons worth of coarse sea salt all over.
Bake the pie for about 35 to 40 minutes in a 350 degree F. oven.
Voila
- Pie Pastry Dough (enough for bottom and top crusts)
- 3 LB. Whole Chicken
- 1 Carrot, roughly chopped
- 2 Celery Stalks, roughly chopped
- 2 Onions, finely chopped
- 4 Sprigs of Tarragon
- 1 TBS Olive Oil
- 1 TBS Butter
- 2 Leeks, finely sliced
- 2/3 cup (150 ml) White Wine
- 2 TBS All-Purpose Flour
- 2/3 cup (150 ml) Light Cream
- Grated Zest of 1/2 Lemon
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1 tsp. Coarse Salt to sprinkle
- Place the chicken in a large soup pot with the carrot, celery, 1 of the onions and 3 tarragon sprigs. Season with a little salt and pepper and cover with water; Bring to a boil and simmer for 45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside to cool. Return the stock to the heat and simmer gently for a further 30 minutes until it is reduced by half.
- Meanwhile heat the oil and butter in a large skillet, add the leeks and the remaining onion and gently cook for about 5 minutes until softened. Turn up the heat to high, add the wine and simmer rapidly for 3-4 minutes until reduced by half. Stir in the flour and mix well in the pan for 1 minute. Pour in the cream, about 2/3 cup (150 ml) of the reduced chicken stock and the lemon zest. Season with a little salt and plenty of ground black pepper.
- Remove the meat from the cooled chicken carcass and chop or shred into small pieces. Add this and the remaining tarragon, chopped, to the leek and cream mixture and stir together; Set aside to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Place a baking sheet in the oven to heat.
- Line the base of a 10 1/2-inch round pie pan with two-thirds of the pastry and fill with the chicken mixture. Brush the pastry edges with cream. Roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid and lay over the filling, trimming away any excess. Crimp the edges of the pastry with your fingertips to seal, and brush with cream to glaze. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt. If desired, roll out any scraps of pastry, and cut out decorative leaves to place on top. Place on the baking sheet and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden and crisp.
- 10 1/2-inch pie pan
- Large saute pan
- Large soup pot
- Leaf pastry-cutter (optional)
