Chicken Pot Pies with Vegetables and Chicken

Ingredients

• 4 chicken breast fillets (about 120 g each)
• 300 ml Vegetable broth
• 1 small stalk leek
• 2 carrots
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 150 g peas (frozen)
• 1 Garlic clove
• 1 tbsp Sunflower oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp flour
• 200 ml whipping cream
• Salt
• black pepper (freshly ground)
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 1 egg yolk
• 115 g cold butter
• 125 g flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 200 ml Buttermilk
• flour (for working)

Instructions

1. 1.

   Wash, pat dry the chicken breast fillets and simmer them in hot broth over low heat for 15 minutes covered. Remove and let cool. Clean the leek, cut lengthwise into quarters and then crosswise into strips. Peel and dice the carrots. Wash, deseed and dice the bell pepper. Thaw the peas. Peel and mince the garlic.

2. 2.

   Heat oil and butter in a pan. Sauté the leek and garlic for 2-4 minutes over low heat. Add carrots, bell pepper and peas; sprinkle flour over them and stir briefly to coat. Gradually whisk in cream (leaving 2 tbsp) and about 100 ml of the chicken cooking liquid until it boils. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat. Dice the cooled chicken and add thyme to the creamy vegetable sauce. Stir in the egg yolk, taste, then spoon the mixture into oven‑proof ramekins (~350 ml each).

3. 3.

   Preheat the oven to 200 °C (Oven/Convection). Cube the cold butter. Sift flour with salt, baking powder and baking soda into a bowl. Add the butter and mix by hand until crumbly. Press a well in the center and pour in 150 ml buttermilk. Knead from outside to inside until sticky dough forms; add more buttermilk if needed. Turn onto a floured surface, roll out, fold, re‑roll and repeat 6–8 times. Roll to ~3 cm thickness and cut circles of about 5 cm diameter. Place on the pie crusts and brush with remaining buttermilk. Bake in the middle rack for about 30 minutes until golden brown.