Chicken and vegetable pot pie

Hello everyone, we had planned a picnic today to celebrate Mothers Day. A day out in the fresh air and sunshine, under a beautiful blue autumn sky...just like yesterday in Sydney! But today it rained. In fact it was pouring down this morning so we ended up bringing all our picnic food to my sister's home and having a more traditional lunch at the table. We ate well, though, with the hostess outdoing everyone with individual chicken and potato pies for the kids, a divine chicken and tarragon pie for the adults and a tomato, basil and prosciutto quiche as well! We did eat quite sumptuously.

Funnily enough I had decided to add this recipe for a chicken pie to the blog this week. It's certainly much more thrown together than my sister's masterpiece, and despite all the bad memories of '70s food that the name might bring to mind, it really is very yummy. You can add whatever vegetables you have to hand, and it's made with a BBQ chicken, so quick and easy as well! It comes from the ever inspirational "3 Ways With..." book.

Have a happy week. Love from Jane xx

Chicken and vegetable pot pie

Easily serves six

1. Have your oven hot and ready at 220C.
2. Heat 60g butter in a frying pan and when it is sizzling, add 1 chopped carrot and 2 chopped stalks of celery and stir around for a few minutes.
3. Add 2 tablespoons plain flour and cook for 2 minutes - it should thickly coat the vegetables, but don't let the flour burn.
4. Add the chopped meat from half a BBQ chicken, 80g peas (or corn) and a handful of flat leaf parsley. (You could also add some chopped capsicum if you have it handy).
5. Stir the vegetables for a minute then add 500ml chicken stock and 250ml thin cream.
6. Season well and slowly bring the mix to the boil, stirring constantly, until it's slightly thickened.
7. Spoon the mixture into a pie dish and top with either some puff pastry, trimmed to fit the dish, or a layer of potato mash.
8. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the pastry/potato is golden.