There are so many parts of this recipe I just love. Pie. Creamy chicken filling. Store-bought puff pastry. And the fact that these beauties are baked in individual ramekins.
Admittedly, many of the recipes I make (especially the baked goods) can be, well, involved. Easy is not something I usually include in the kinds of things I make. But I swear, this is easy enough for a weeknight, but has an elegant enough presentation to serve for guests on Shabbat or Sunday supper.
I didn’t even cook up special chicken for this dish. I had made chicken soup earlier in the week, and saved the chicken from the carcass to use in this recipe. Of course you can roast up some bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts or buy a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken to reduce your effort even further. No one will be the wiser.
Add whatever veggie mix you like, and get ready to have fun with this one. The recipe makes four ramekins, but can easily be doubled or tripled to feed a larger crowd.
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INGREDIENTS
1 sheet frozen, store-bought puff pastry
1 small onion (or half a large onion), finely diced
2 celery stalks, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
Olive oil
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
3 Tbsp flour
2- 2 ½ cups chicken stock
1 ½ cups frozen veggie mix (I used corn, carrots, peas & green beans)
2 cups leftover chicken meat (soup chicken or rotisserie chicken is good for this)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten
1 additional sprig of fresh thyme
thick sea salt (optional)
Yield: 4 servings
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Remove puff pastry from freezer and allow to thaw slightly at room temperature.
Heat a few Tbsp olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Sauté onion and celery until soft and translucent. Add minced garlic and continue cooking for 2 minutes. Add some fresh, chopped thyme and 3 Tbsp flour to the pan, whisking constantly. After 2-3 minutes, add stock and raise temperature so that mixture is simmering, but not quite boiling.
Add frozen veggies and chicken and cook another 2-3 minutes until mixture is creamy and reduced slightly. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Spoon chicken and veggie mixture evenly into 4 ramekins.
Using the size your ramekin as reference, cut squares (or circles) that fit perfectly on top of each ramekin. If you need to roll out the puff pastry using a rolling pin, just be careful not to roll too thin.
Place puff pastry on top of each ramekin. Brush with beaten egg and top with additional fresh thyme and thick sea salt if desired.
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Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce heat to 400 degrees. Continue cooking another 15-20 minutes until golden and puffy on top.
