While you can buy great quality pre-made pastry these days, there’s nothing like making it from scratch! Rough puff pastry is so easy to make and results in a buttery, flaky topping, perfect for my chicken pot pie.
For the filling:
5 tbsp butter
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced into half moons
1 head of broccoli, broken into florets (about 300g)
2 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1 1/2 cups hot chicken stock
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 heaped tsp English mustard
2/3 cup single cream
14 oz cooked chicken, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 large free-range egg, beaten
For the pastry:
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 sticks very cold, butter, cut into small cubes
1 tsp sea salt
1 large free range egg
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp ice cold water
Freshly ground black pepper
For the filling:
75g butter
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced into half moons
1 head of broccoli, broken into florets (about 300g)
2 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting
350ml hot chicken stock
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 heaped tsp English mustard
150ml single cream
400g cooked chicken, torn into bite-sized pieces
1 large free range egg, beaten
For the pastry:
250g plain flour
170g very cold, butter, cut into small cubes
1 tsp sea salt
1 large free range egg
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp ice cold water
Freshly ground black pepper
Mixing bowl
Large frying pan
Saucepan
Metal steamer
Oven proof baking dish
Rolling pin
Pastry brush
Rabbit was a great food for country people for many years. Tomás O’Crohan in The Islandman tells us of the many rabbits they caught on the Blasket islands when he was young: ‘When we had all come to the boat and put the game together, we had eight dozen rabbits – a dozen a-piece.’ Maurice o’Sullivan in Twenty years A-Growing writes of the same island and rabbit stew: ‘We sat down to dinner, a savoury dinner it was – a fine stew of rabbits and plenty of soup.’ Young rabbits can be roasted – as with the body of the hare – and wrapped in bacon. Recipe from The Pleasures of the Table: Rediscovering Theodora Fitzgibbon.