For this dish, we have overhauled an on-line recipe for chicken pot pies with puff pastry lids, ditched the pastry and added a layer of mashed potato as in the well-known Shepherd’s Pie. The result is very tasty and reheats well. You could also drop the mashed potato and serve it as a casserole with a medley of steamed or boiled vegetables.

Ingredients

50g butter
200g small Swiss Brown mushrooms, thinly sliced (2-3mm)
3 long rashers bacon, trimmed and coarsely chopped
600g chicken thigh fillets, chopped
1-2 leeks, white part only, halved lengthways and thinly sliced (vary quantity of leek depending on size and your own taste)
30ml plain flour
250-300ml chicken stock
60ml cooking cream
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves OR 1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon leaves
freshly ground black pepper
400g mashing potatoes, eg Dutch Cream
extra butter, milk and sour cream

Method

1. Melt 30g of the butter in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Add the mushroom slices and sauté for 6-8 minutes until they have just begun to caramelise. (To start, I put a lid loosely on the pan for a couple of minutes to help soften the mushrooms using their own steam; otherwise, it seems that you need to add more butter to the pan.) Remove mushroom slices and set aside in a large bowl or deep plate.
2. Add bacon to the pan and cook, stirring, for 3-4 minutes until cooked through but not browned. Add to the mushrooms. Add 10g of butter to the pan and cook the chopped chicken in 2 or 3 batches – to prevent stewing the meat – until lightly browned all over. Add to the mushrooms and bacon.
3. Melt remaining butter, add leek and sauté for 5 minutes until leek softens; add resting juices from other ingredients if pan is a little dry. As the leek cooks, it will loosen and incorporate the caramelised bits from the base of the pan.
4. Return bacon, mushroom and chicken to the pan over medium heat, add flour and cook for 1 minute. Add 250ml of the stock, bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add cream, mustard, thyme and a generous grind of pepper then cook for a further two minutes, adding extra stock if the sauce is too thick. Remove from the heat and tip into a ceramic or glass baking dish no smaller than 20cm x 20cm (or an equivalent rectangular dish).
5. Preheat oven to 150C.
6. Prepare potato mash by peeling the potatoes and cutting them into chunks. Add potato chunks to a saucepan, cover with plenty of salted cold water, bring to the boil and simmer for about 15 minutes or just tender. Drain well and mash with a little butter, sour cream and milk, sufficient to produce a smooth but firm consistency.
7. Spread mash over chicken mixture, gently furrow the surface with a fork and bake in the oven for about 25 minutes until the chicken mix is heated through and bubbling around the edges.
8. We served the pie with some fresh peas and some Dutch carrots.