Creamy Chicken and Vegetable Pie Filling

The depth of flavour for these chicken and vegetable pies comes from cooking the chicken on the bone liberally covered with creme fraiche.

Ingredients

1kg skinless chicken drumsticks

200ml crème fraiche

50gm butter

60gm flour

250gm brown onion finely diced (one large or two medium)

100ml white wine

500ml chicken stock

250gm carrot finely chopped (two medium)

200gm zucchini finely chopped (one medium)

300gm small white mushrooms roughly sliced

A little extra butter for cooking the mushrooms (about 1 tbsp)

2 tsp salt

1tsp freshly ground black pepper

Method

Set your oven to 180C.

Place chicken in a lightly buttered baking dish in one layer.

Season with some of the salt and pepper then spread the crème fraiche over covering the chicken as evenly as possible.

Bake uncovered in the oven for about one hour until lightly brown and the chicken is tender.

When the chicken is cooked remove from the oven and let cool in the cooking liquid.

Meanwhile place carrots into a pot of salted boiling water and cook until tender but still retain some crunch, then add the zucchini and cook a few minutes more until tender but still firm. Drain and set aside.

Saute the mushrooms in a frypan with a little butter until softened. Set aside.

When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the chicken and reserve the cooking liquid.

Strip the chicken meat from the bones, removing all gristle. Roughly dice the meat and set aside and discard the bones and gristle.

In a large saucepan melt the 50gm of butter and cook the onions slowly over low heat until they are well cooked and soft but not brown.

Add the flour to make a roux and cook, stirring for a few minutes to cook out the starch.

Still stirring, add the wine, cook out for a few minutes then slowly add the stock, stirring continuously until you have a smooth sauce.

Add all the cooking liquid from the chicken and stir over gentle heat until you have obtained a smooth creamy sauce.

Fold in the reserved chicken meat and the vegetables until well combined.

Cool and refrigerate overnight before filling your pies.