Ingredients

Before you start

Choose individual baking dishes which contain about 375 ml or 1 ½ cups when ¾ full.

Defrost the puff pastry dough at room temperature for 2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. The dough should be flexible but still feel cold to the touch.

Make sure you have the precooked chicken available.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F.
2. Prepare the carrots: peel, dice and blanch them about 5 min in a pot of salted boiling water. Drain and set aside.
3. Cook the small peas, still frozen, by blanching them 5 min in a small pot of salted boiling water (if carrot dices are similar in size as the peas, they may be cooked together).
4. Finely chop the onion and mince the garlic. Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic then sauté about 3-4 min until translucent. Add the flour and cook 2 min with stirring. Slowly add the broth with stirring and bring to a boil. Add the chicken pieces, carrots, small peas and diced celery. Add salt and pepper. Cook a few minutes, then trasfer the mixture into the individual baking dishes and set them aside.
5. On a lightly floured board, roll out the puff pastry into a 35 x 35 cm square (approx.), using a rolling pin. Cut 4 disks with the same diameter as the dishes and place them on top of each of the 4 dishes. Repeat, if necessary, with other blocks of puff pastry.
6. Bake in the middle of the oven for about 30 min. For a nice golden-brown crust, turn on the top broiler for the last 2 min (but do not let it burn!). Serve.

Remarks

Ingredients

Method

1. Prepare the vegetables. Cut the onions into quarters and stick the cloves into one of the quarters. Cut the leek into large chunks. Cut the carrots and celery stalks in half.
2. Place the vegetables, bay leaves and whole chicken (without the giblets!) into a pot. Add cold water to cover (5-6 cm above the chicken). Add peppercorns and salt (not too much, you can always add more later on). Bring to a boil. Reduce to a very gentle simmer: liquid should just bubble up to the surface. Cook, uncovered, for 1 h. A skin will form on the surface of the liquid; skim this off with a slotted or a regular spoon and discard.
3. Remove the chicken and pick off the meat. Reserve the chicken meat in a tight container, covered with some of the broth. Let cool down a few minutes then put the container in the refrigerator.
4. Adjust the seasoning of the broth and return the carcass to the pot. Simmer uncovered another ½ h, turn off the heat and when the broth is cool enough to work with, strain it through a sieve or a colander lined with cheesecloth, discarding the carcass, herbs, and vegetables. Transfer to airtight containers and refrigerate. Leave any remaining fat in the broth as a protective cover. You can skim this off when you use the broth.

Remarks