Country Chicken Casserole Pie

Description

Entry for rsc winter january 2005 — main dish

Ingredients

• Red Potatoes
• Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast Halves
• Ground Coriander
• Ground Cumin
• Salt
• Fresh Ground Pepper
• Butter
• Olive Oil
• Onion
• Fresh Shiitake Mushrooms
• Garlic Cloves
• Anaheim Chilies
• Dry White Wine
• Chicken Stock
• All-purpose Flour
• Snap Peas
• Phyllo Dough
• Baby Spinach Leaves

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400f degrees
2. Par boil scrubed, quartered, unpeeled potatoes in salted water, approximately 10 minutes, cool and cube into 1 / 2 inch pieces
3. Set aside
4. Place coriander, cumin, salt and pepper in plastic bag
5. Add chicken cubes and shake to coat
6. Refrigerate until ready to use
7. In a large nonstick frypan, on medium high heat, melt 1 / 4 cup butter with olive oil, stir to mix
8. Add onions and mushrooms, saute until onions are just beginning to turn brown, about 8 minutes
9. Add garlic, anaheim pepper and chicken cubes with spices and any accumulated juices in bag, cook, stirring for 4 minutes
10. Add wine and deglaze pan, cook and stir another 2 minutes
11. Add 1 cup chicken stock, cook and stir 1 minute
12. In the meantime, add flour to 1 / 2 cup chicken stock and whisk until smooth
13. Add to frypan while stirring to mix
14. Bring to simmer, simmer 1 minute, or until thickened, add snap peas and potatoes
15. Taste and adjust seasoning
16. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to pour into prepared phyllo crust
17. Phyllo crust:
18. On a dampened teatowel, lay out 8 phyllo pastry sheets
19. Cover with a second dampened teatowel, keep covered while using so that it will not dry out
20. Brush medium size casserole with melted butter
21. Brush melted butter on one phyllo sheet, cover with a second sheet and brush second sheet with melted butter
22. Place the two sheets in buttered casserole, with the sheet edges / corners hanging over the casserole edge
23. Separate the spinach leaves into 4 piles, removing any long stems
24. Place one pile of spinach leaves in a layer to cover the bottom of the casserole on top of the pastry sheets
25. Repeat this 3 more times, rotating the pastry sheets so that the pastry corners are beside each other around the casserole edge
26. Ending with a layer of spinach
27. Pour chicken mixture into spinach lined crust
28. Smooth top and fold edges of phyllo over filling with the corners meeting in the centre
29. Turn phyllo corner ends up to form an opening for steam release
30. Liberally brush top of pie with melted butter
31. Place on centre rack in 400f degree oven for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350f degrees and bake a further 35 minutes or until filling is bubbling and pastry is golden and crisp