Chicken pot pie

One of the ultimate comfort foods during winter is this, the humble chicken pie. The best part is, its so easy to make! You could bake them in individual ramkins like those shown above (if you're based down under, you could get ramkins cheap from the dfo at 1.25 each), or bake it as a huge pie that a couple could dig into.

The original recipe was taken from here: http://www.mycookinghut.com/2011/11/21/chicken-pot-pie/ and yes, I know she has way prettier pictures than me, but its just me and my galaxy camera with limited ingredients, cooking space and utensils, but my point is: its easy enough for any amateur.

Ingredients:

- 300g skinless chicken breast, cut into cubes

- 1.5 cup mixed frozen vegetables (I used corn, carrot and peas)

- 1 cup cream

- 3 stalks tarragon, chopped

- 1 brown onion, chopped

- 2 potatoes, chopped (optional, if you would like a fuller meal)

- 1 medium sized carrot, cut into cubes

- Pepper and salt to taste

- 1 tbps butter

- 1 egg, beaten

- Frozen puff pastry sheets

Directions:

Melt butter, and saute onions together with carrots, this is to give your carrots time to get soft. If like me you have a stock of home-made garlic infused olive oil sitting around, it definitely wouldn't hurt to add a splash of it during cooking. While the onions are browning, marinate the chicken pieces with salt, pepper, soy and a some corn flour (this is optional but doing so will actually give you a chance to "velvet" the chicken pieces when cooking. Alternatively, you may just use them as-is)

When the onions are brown, toss the chicken pieces in with the mixed vegetables (and potatoes if you've decided to have some) and add the cream. As the cream is bubbling, add the chopped tarragon, mix and adjust taste with salt and pepper. Fill your pyrex bowl or any oven safe vessel with your mixture and then top it off with the pastry. Seal the sides of your pastry with a fork by pressing it around the perimeter, this will leave pretty fork marks. Egg wash the pastry with a pastry brush, or if you don't own one like me, use your fingers. It will be baked so just make sure your finger is clean (: Bake it in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius until the pastry is brown and its read to eat!

I always have a problem of left over egg so you could do one of the following: add it to any other dish you are cooking, make another batch of pot pie the next day and use it up, pour some into your pie filling while its still cooking, or just add fresh milk, salt and pepper and stick it in the microwave for a mini serving of scrambled eggs.