Ingredients

Before you start

Make sure you have the precooked chicken available.

Put a colander in the sink to drain the cooked pasta so that it will be ready when needed.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F.
2. Heat the oil in a pan over medium-high heat and cook the mushrooms, with stirring, a couple minutes until they are just softened. Set aside.
3. To save time, the rest of the sauce preparation and the pasta cooking can be done at the same time. Cook the pasta. Three minutes before draining, add the frozen peas to the boiling water with the pasta.
4. In the meantime, melt the butter in a saucepan over moderately low heat, add the flour, and cook the roux about 4 min, with stirring. Whisk in the broth and cook a few minutes until all the ingredients are well combined. Add the cream, sherry (optional), grated nutmeg, salt, and pepper, then mix well and set aside. Shred the chicken meat and set aside.
5. Pour the drained pasta and peas over the sauce, stir in the mushrooms and the shredded chicken meat, then transfer the mixture to the baking dish.
6. Sprinkle with the grated Parmesan and bake in the middle of the oven 25 min until it reaches a pale golden colour. For a nice crust, turn on the top broiler for the last 2 minutes. 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