We had a day of visitors in and out with the M-I-L being swapped out for the S-I-L and kids coming and going. Brekkie and lunch contained no suprises but for dinner, I made up a chicken and tarragon pie. A quick trip out for some extra veg and then any excuse to make up a batch of pastry. But that pastry was a roller-coaster ride of emotion:
Making shortcrust pastry, Yay!
Rub 125g of cold butter into 200g of plain flour but discover you have no flour, Boo...
Find the last 190g (that will do) of plain flour hidden in the bottom of the packet, Yay!
Try to mix in a medium egg, but open the egg box to see two empty shells, Boo...
Run down to the shop, get six more eggs, come back and mix one in, Yay!
Roll out the most anticipated pastry you've ever made to about 5mm thick and layer it over a pie dish containing the following:
De-boned, browned and chopped chicken thighs, cooked with sweated leek, onion and tarragon, a splash of cream and a sneaky ladle of chicken stock. Season with a small pinch of salt and a hefty whack of pepper before letting the sauce reduce a bit.
Give it an egg wash and sprinkle some flaky salt over the top for the real profesh look, then into the oven it goes at about 180 until the top is golden and irresistible.
You can then steam the veg - ours was a reduced load of out-of-season asparagus and small stem broccoli - or like me, you can forget about the pan and totally over steam it whist chatting to the S-I-L. But it's not as if I blame her. I mean, who gets wound up about mushy, limp and flaccid asparagus??
Oh yeah, I also made crispy chicken skins. When I de-boned the chicken, I took the skin off and oiled, salted and roasted them off. There isn't much Mrs P won't do for a crispy chicken skin.
They look horrid don't they? When it's altogether though, it's a thin, crispy, salty beautiful revelation! Not the healthiest but when you have overcooked veg, you can afford a bit of luxury.
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