Cook’s notes
If the meat were lamb, it would be shepherd’s pie. If it were beef, it would be cottage pie. Since chicken is used here, perhaps, I could call it farmer’s pie.
When my daughters were pre-schoolers and up until the time they were in grade school, this was comfort food for them. I’d cook it in a full-sized baking dish and they’d scoop out the chicken, sauce and mashed potato onto their plates. It was often a messy affair but the smile on their faces was always priceless.
For purposes of food blogging, however, I have to leave out the messy part. Ergo, I decided to bake the dish in single-serve oven-proof bowls. Dinner was a lot less messy; so are the photos.
The mashed potato topping is just regular mashed potato with butter but no cream. We added chopped chives to ours. You can just be spread on top of the “stew” but, if you like pretty, a piping bag does wonders. What tip to use is up to you.
The mashed potato topping is just regular mashed potato with butter but no cream. We added chopped chives to ours. You can just be spread on top of the “stew” but, if you like pretty, a piping bag does wonders. What tip to use is up to you.Chicken farmer’s pie
Ingredients
Onion gravy
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup chopped onion
- ⅓ cup all-purpose flour
- 3 cups chicken broth
- salt
- pepper
- 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
Chicken “stew”
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 onions peeled and roughly chopped
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 sprig rosemary stripped and chopped
- 1 kilogram chicken thigh fillets (2.2 pounds) cut into one-inch cubes or smaller
- salt
- pepper
- 1 carrot peeled and cut into half-inch cubes
- 300 grams mushrooms we used shimeji but button mushrooms will be just as good
- 1 cup gravy
- ½ cup sweet peas
- 2 to 3 cups mashed potato we added chopped chives
Instructions
Cook the gravy
- Melt the butter in a pan and stir in the chopped onion.
- Pour in the flour, all at once, and stir until pasty in appearance.
- Over medium-low heat, cook the roux with the onion, stirring once in a while, until the roux turns a deep brown.
- Pour the broth in a thin stream using one hand while stirring with the other.
- Cook, stirring, until the gravy thickens.
- Taste. Add salt and pepper if your broth is underseasoned.
- Stir in the Worcestershire sauce.
- Off the heat, plunge in an immersion blender to liquefy the onion bits.
- Taste one last time and adjust the seasonings, if needed.
Cook the chicken “stew”
- Melt the butter in a pan and saute the onion, garlic and rosemary.
- Add the chicken and cook, stirring, until the meat is no longer pink.
- Add the carrot and mushrooms, and sprinkle in a teaspon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes.
- Pour in the gravy.
- Stir in the peas.
- Bring to a gentle boil, cover and simmer until the chicken is done and the gravy has thickened.
- Taste, and add more salt and pepper, if needed.
Assemble
- Preheat the oven to 375F with the bottom and top heat on.
- Ladle the chicken and gravy casserole into a baking dish (or dishes) and cool.
- Spread (or pipe) mashed potato over the surface of the chicken and gravy.
- Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the gravy is bubbly and the mashed potato is browned.
- Take your chicken farmer’s pies out of the oven and serve.
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