Chicken Pot Pie

This is a request by my husband after joining me on watching Master Chef last week. What I love about pies is the versatility of its fillings. You can make whatever you want, add whatever you wish and you get to play with the pastry! I'm going to confess; this pastry is store-bought-ready-to-bake Puff Pastry. While I love cooking & baking from scratch, I don't have ever-ready mood & energy for pastries all the time. Got to forgive myself for this. 

However, if you had no idea that it can be bought before this, you can find them in the frozen area of the supermarket where they store Frozen Pizzas, Spring Rolls Wraps, Frozen Peas & so on. 

This is what I used for this post. It comes in 6 sheets, each separated by plastic & stacked. It will expand into a few layers as you bake. In this post, I've used 1 sheet divided into 4 squares, topping each 473ml / 16oz capacity bowl with 2 squares. You may cut the pastries into shapes with cookie cutters if you wish. Do what makes you happy! 

*This recipe is used for 2x473ml / 16oz capacity bowl. 
*Make sure your bowls are oven safe.

Ingredients
A: Marinate Chicken

1. 250g Chicken Breast, cubed
2. 1tsp Salt
3. 1tsp Sugar
4. 1tsp Crushed Black Pepper 
5. 1tsp Garlic Powder
6. 1tbsp Lea & Perrins Worchestershire Sauce
7. 1tsp Italian Mixed Herbs

B: Deep Frying

1. 5 Cocktail Sausages, sliced
2. 2 Medium Potatoes, cubed
3. 2tbsp All Purpose Flour / Plain Flour
4. 1/2tsp Garlic Powder
5. 1/2tsp Salt
6. 1/2tsp White Pepper Powder
7. Enough oil for frying 

C: Side

1. About 10 florets of Cauliflower
2. A handful of Bacon Chips
3. 1 Tomato 
4. 1/2tsp Salt
5. Enough water for blanching 

D: Sauce

1.  200ml Cooking Cream
2. 4pips Garlic, halved 
3. 2-3 Shallots, peeled
4. 1 1/2tsp Starch (mix with water before adding into sauce)

E:

1. 1 Sheet of Puff Pastry, cut into 4 squares

Method

1. Refer to Ingredients (A): Mix cubed chicken breast with all the seasoning & set aside. 
2. Refer to Ingredients (B): In a pan with oil heated up, fry sliced sausages on medium heat till browned. Remove from heat & set aside. Switch off heat.
3. Refer to Ingredients (B): In a medium bowl, mix together flour, garlic powder, salt & pepper. Add in cubed potatoes into flour mixture. Toss around to make sure potatoes are coated with flour. Heat oil from Step 2, fry coated potato cubes until golden brown. Remove from heat & set aside. Reduce heat to lowest & move on to Step 4.
4. Refer to Ingredients (C): Using the same oil from Step 2&3, fry bacon chips till browned & crispy. Remove from heat & set aside. Switch off heat. (Maintain the oil for Ingredients (D) - Sauce)
5. Preheat oven to 175°c. (I used forced fan mode. Increase temperature to 185°c if you're not using fan mode.)
6. Refer to Ingredients (D) & (A): By now, the oil in your pan will be fragrant. Use it to make the sauce. Heat oil, add in garlic & saute on medium heat till little brown spots are noticeable. Add in chicken breast. Toss around until 80% cooked. Add in cream, stir while bringing to boil. If the cream sauce is too little for your bowl, you may add more cream if available. Otherwise just slowly add water, but make sure it's not too diluted. 
7. Once boiled, add in starch water. Stir & bring to boil. Remove from heat & get ready to fill the bowl for baking!
8. Gather around fried sausages, potatoes & chicken stew. Fill each bowl with stew to about 80% full, add in sausages & potatoes. Stir a little to even up the goodies in the bowl. Once you're satisfied, cover bowl top with puff pastry. I used 2 squares, stacked, with top layer rotated to separate its corners from sticking together with bottom layer's. Press all corners onto bowl to stick. Once done, use a knife to make a few slits on top of pastry (on top of bowl). Make sure to cut all the way through second layer. This is to allow steam to escape from within while baking, to avoid rupture of your pie crust. Brush pastry top with butter. Bake for 40 minutes to 60 minutes, or till pastry turn golden brown.
9. While baking, prepare the side. Refer to Ingredients (C): Bring water to boil in a small pot. Add in a pinch of salt & blanch cauliflower until cooked, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat, drain & set aside. Slice tomato & arrange on your bowl. Top it with cauliflower & sprinkle generously with bacon chips.
10. Once pie is baked, remove from oven & serve hot together with your Side.