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Pie au poulet (chicken pie)

The original recipe is from the French cookbook "Toute la cuisine au fil des saisons".  The cookbook suggests that you should serve this with Pumpkin soup as a starter and a “Charlotte aux noisettes” (a sort of cream trifle with hazelnuts) for dessert. If you’re so inclined, the accompanying wine? Chinon, fairly young.
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Ingredients

  • Pie crust for one or two crusts according to personal preference, see Note below
  • Chicken breasts or turkey or another bird of choice, 8 at 3-½ oz (100 g) apiece. That’s 1-½ to 2 lbs of bird cut into sizeable chunks.
  • Butter 3-½ Tbsp (50 g)
  • Egg 1
  • Apples roughly 2 lbs (1 kg)
  • Tomatoes 3
  • Shallots 4
  • Garlic 4 cloves
  • Flour about ½ cup (50 g)
  • Herbs: if you have it a “bouquet garni” otherwise a mix of thyme, parsley and a bay leaf
  • Dry white wine about 1 cup (20 cl)
  • Chicken bouillon about ½ cup (10 cl)
  • Salt and pepper

Instructions

  • Blanche, peel, chop and crush the tomatoes (or in my case, open the canned ones.) Chop the shallots. Salt and pepper the chicken pieces and dust them with flour.
  • Heat the butter in a large saucepan. Brown the chicken pieces. Add the shallots and the tomatoes. Let the sauce thicken as it simmers gently uncovered.
  • Peel and quarter the apples. Peel the garlic.
  • Place the apples and garlic on top of the chicken-sauce mix. Add the bouquet garni or herbs, salt and pepper, the wine and the bouillon. Mix and let simmer 20 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 410°F (210°C).
  • Prepare the bottom pie crust, if using.
  • Remove the chicken pieces and the apples from the simmering sauce and place them in the pie crust. Remove the bouquet garni (if using).
  • Turn up the heat on the remaining sauce and reduce it by half. Pour the reduced sauce on top of the chicken and apple pieces.
  • Divide the egg. Lightly beat the white and the yolk separately.
  • Brush the egg white onto the border of the lower pie crust.
  • Cover the pie with the upper crust. Seal the crust carefully around the edges.
  • Brush the crust with the lightly beaten egg yolk.
  • Make two small holes in the crust into which you insert rolled up pieces of wax paper to make chimneys. Bake 30 minutes.

Notes

Pie crust: You could use a prepared crust but it’s also remarkably easy to make your own. I used this very simple recipe: 9 Tbsp (125 g) of cold unsalted butter cut into 2 cups (250 g) of flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Make a small well in the center, add ¼ cup (5 cl) of water and a couple of pinches of salt. Work into dough. Knead briefly, form into a ball, cover and refrigerate 30 minutes before rolling out on a floured surface. Easy as...(oh, never mind)