Harriet Davidson’s Recipe for Country Chicken Pie

Recipe, words & photography by Harriet Davidson

Every Sunday was brocante (antique market) day over the month I spent at La Gonette – the home of Australian writer, Alice Nelson, that’s evolving into the most beautiful artist’s residency and retreat centre in Provence, in the south of France. Cook and creative Jeni Glasgow and I spent six weeks here in residence over the month of June. There was produce and poetry that made your heart melt, there were century old napkins and blouses to swoon over, there was a constant flow of fascinating conversation, and there were endless tables created to be home to meals to sit around for hours and hours. It was a delight. 

There was produce and poetry that made your heart melt...

Back to Sundays. Jeni and I would start our days preparing breakfast – a boulangerie run and poems written on doilies to cover the plates of fresh fruit – eventually moving on to eating breakfast out in the sun on a small round table just outside the kitchen door. This was always our time to plot and plan the menu for the day and perhaps the couple of days ahead. We’d think about what produce we had from our weekly market haul, what the weather was doing, what mood we were in, what the vibe of the day and the evening was perhaps going to be. This was always a wonderful moment. 

On this particular Sunday, we were all off to L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue – the antique capital of France, many would say, certainly of Provence. Knowing we would be back late, we wanted to make something that we could prepare ahead of time, and we could put together quickly on our return; our bodies and minds exhausted, soaking in the beauty we’d come across – there was always a lot. We had the basic vegetables of carrot, onion, celery, almost always, and the same goes for pastry ingredients of flour, butter and eggs. And out of our morning confab sitting there in those little orange, sun-soaked chairs around the round table came this recipe. 

To me, country chicken pie, or chicken pot pie, feels like a convivial Sunday night meal. It felt right for this moment, especially seeing as Provençal summer was doing funny things and we were expecting a cool and rainy night. We were serving 12 people and this recipe worked wonderfully well for a full table. We also served fuzzy and fun frisée with a sharp, mustardy dressing – a nice fresh and perky addition to the meal. Equally, a baguette wouldn’t go astray here to mop up the delicious sauce. 

You can make the pastry ahead, and same goes for the stock and even the filling. You can use a lovely juicy rotisserie chicken and bought puff pastry to make it a speedy affair, or you can roast your own chicken and make your own pastry to make it a slow and satisfying weekend project. Here I’ve used the brilliant Danielle Alvarez’s flaky pastry recipe that she uses for galettes – I’ve used it for the pie tops, works a treat. 

So, here you have, our country chicken pie recipe from summer days spent cooking in Provence. Perfect for the last bout of cool winter nights in the Southern Hemisphere, but equally lovely as spring starts to roll in. I hope you love it, and I hope it creates as much joy and conviviality as it did around our table. 

 Harriet uses our 100% Linen Napkins in Natural. 

Recipe: Country chicken pie from Provençal summer days

Serves: 6

PIE FILLING

Chicken from 1 rotisserie chicken
2 small brown onions, diced
3 stems celery, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
¼ cup olive oil
4 medium potatoes, cut into cubes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons butter
¼ cup white wine
1 tablespoon plain flour
1 cup frozen green peas
1 bunch parsley, stems and leaves separated and finely chopped
Sea salt
Freshly cracked black pepper

CHICKEN STOCK

Bones and carcass from 1 rotisserie chicken
2 brown onions, cut into chunks
2 stems celery, cut into chunks
2 carrots, cut into chunks
Water 

PASTRY

340 g plain flour
250 g butter, chilled and cubed
Pinch of salt
1 egg, for egg wash
Black sesame seeds or fennel seeds, to garnish 

METHOD

STOCK

To make the stock, place all chicken stock ingredients into a large, heavy-based saucepan. Add enough cold water so the chicken and vegetables are just submerged. Place the pot over a low-to medium heat and bring it to simmer, then turn the heat to low and leave to cook for 1.5–2 hours. Your kitchen will smell divine by the end of this cooking time. Leave the stock to cool before straining the liquid and discarding the bones and stock vegetables. You can do this step the day before serving the pie – keep the stock in the fridge. 

PASTRY 

For the pastry, place the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the cold cubed butter and the salt and toss to coat the butter cubes in the flour. Use your pointer and middle finger to smear each cube against your thumb to create tiny sheets of butter – continue to do this until you have no cubes. Make a well in the middle of the flour and butter mixture and slowly pour in the cold water, mixing with one hand as you go. Use your hands to mix the water through the flour and butter until you find yourself with a ball of dough. Pop this onto the bench and add a bit of flour if it feels sticky – the amount of water always varies depending on the absorption of the flour you’re using and the humidity in the air. Once you’ve got yourself a nice ball of pastry, use a knife to cut the ball in half and push one piece down on top of the other – repeat three to four times. This helps to create those lovely flaky layers. Role the pastry back into a smooth ball and wrap it in glad wrap before placing it in the fridge for 30 minutes, or overnight. You can also do this step the day ahead.  

When ready to cook the pastry tops, preheat the oven to 220C. Take the pastry out of the fridge and cut it in half. Roll the pastry out on a floured bench until it’s about a quarter of a centre metre thick. Take a bowl that’s a little larger than what you intend to serve the pie in and use that to trace a circle in the dough. Use a knife to cut out the circle – cut the circle in half before placing it onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Continue to do this until you have six semi-circles. Roll up any leftover pastry, wrap it in glad wrap and place this in the freezer to have on hand for next time. 

Crack an egg into a small bowl and add 1 teaspoon of cold water. Whisk with a fork. Brush each semi-circle with this egg wash, then sprinkle over the fennel seed and/or black sesame. I travel with an Irish Hantverk pastry brush for my pastry pursuits, it’s the best. 

Place the tray(s) into the oven and turn the heat down to 200C. Cook for about 12 minutes, or until golden. Remove the trays from the oven and leave the pastry to cool on a wire rack while you get on when your pie filling – allowing them to cool on a rack stops them from steaming on the tray which can make for a soggy pastry base. You can cook these a few hours before you’re serving the pie, but they are lovely warm. 

PIE FILLING 

Put the diced onion, carrot, celery, parsley stems and olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and place this over a low-to medium heat. Add a pinch of salt, stir to combine, and cook covered for 10 to 15 minutes, until the onion is soft and translucent. You will need to stir this every now and again to stop it from catching. 

Meanwhile, place the diced potato into a medium saucepan, cover with water and add 1 tablespoon of fine salt. Cook this over a medium heat until the water comes to a simmer, then turn it down for 10 minutes, or until the potato is just tender. Drain and set aside. 

To the pan with the onion, carrot and celery, once the vegetables have softened nicely, add the chopped garlic and butter and cook for 1-2 minutes before deglazing the pan with the white wine. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes, until the wine has almost evaporated, then add the flour and stir to combine. This helps to create that lovely thick sauce. 

Add the shredded chicken to the pan, stir to combine, then add in 2 cups of the chicken stock. Add the cooked potato and again, give it all a good stir. Add your final cup of stock – you’re wanting a good amount of sauce here so it should be somewhere between a stew and a soup. Taste for seasoning and adjust with sea salt, then let this cook for 15 minutes to allow all the ingredients to get to know each other and build that lovely comforting flavour.  

After 15 minutes, add the chopped parsley, leaving out enough to garnish, and the peas and stir to combine. Let this cook for 5 minutes or so, then taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. 

To serve, use a ladle to give each bowl two scoops of the chicken pie filling. Season each bowl with a good amount of freshly cracked black pepper then sprinkle with chopped parsley. Place the half-moon of pastry over each bowl, sitting on top of the pie filling or on the edge of the bowl. Et voilà, bon appétit.

@chateaudelagonette
@harriet.olive