Sweet Chicken Pie

Roast chicken and sweet potato; who can argue with that combination? Now put them in a pie and make the top nice and fancy and you've just made that combination even better. I happen to use chicken thighs on the bone and roast them at the same time as the sweet potato, it means that the chicken stays more flavourful and that the potato soaks up anything that might escape from the chicken whilst cooking. If you have already roasted a chicken and you are looking for something to do with the leftovers then this is a good use of them too, it just means roasting the sweet potato separately. The puff pastry top gives a little bit of excitement as well as having a wonderful flavour. You can experiment with the nuts and herbs that go in the top (if using rosemary be sure not to go over board and make sure it is finely chopped). I have broken it down into three components: white sauce, filling and pastry, just to make the method clearer. Serve with some cabbage or tender stem broccoli.

White Sauce:

30 g butter

1 1/2 tbsp plain flour

375 ml whole milk

2 bay leaves

Add the bay leaves to the milk and heat through so it is just about simmering. Turn the heat off and let the bay steep into the milk. When the rest of the filling ingredients are ready, transfer the milk to a jug and remove the bay leaves. Melt the butter in a sauce pan, when it is bubbling add the flour and whisk vigorously until it forms a paste. Very slowly, and at first, bit by bit, add the milk whisking constantly until thickened, about 10 minutes. Add some salt and pepper for seasoning then pour over the chicken and potato in the pie dish.

Filling:

Four chicken thighs (bone in and skin on)

Four large sweet potatoes - peeled and diced into 1 in cubes

Preheat the oven to 180C. Prep your potato whilst you're waiting and scatter them into the bottom of a baking dish. Season the chicken thighs well, on the top as well as the bottom and snuggle them in with the potato. Roast everything for 40-45 minutes (cooking times will vary depending on the size of your chicken thighs as well as your oven). After 20 minutes give everything a stir to keep things browning evenly. When you take it out, let the chicken sit for about 5 or 6 minutes. When ready to use, take the skin off and remove the bone. Shred into bite sized pieces and put in a pie dish along with the potato.

Pastry:

Half a packet of puff pastry

2 tbsp fresh thyme, picked from woody stalks or finely chopped if soft stemmed

50 g toasted hazelnuts, chopped

1 medium egg, whisked

Roll the pastry out so it is very thin. Roll it out so it is double the width of the pie dish you are using. Scatter the chopped hazelnuts and the thyme on half of the pastry. Brush the egg wash in a square around the nuts and herbs and fold the pastry over on itself. Press down on the edges to make sure they are sealed, I also pass a rolling pin back and forth to make sure it is thoroughly compressed. This may lead to a few holes so try and be careful to keep these to a minimum (size wise at least). Once you have all of the filling in the pie dish, brush more of the egg wash around the rim and press the pastry lid on top, you may need to gather any excess pastry bunched on the side. Take the rest of the egg and brush over the top of the pastry to give it a lovely crisp as well as a beautiful sheen. This needs to bake for 25-30 minutes.

Sausages Part Two: Sausage and Mash Anew

This is like a big hug on a plate. It's so straightforward to do, and pretty much does all the work for you. Though it is such a simple dish, there are some good strong flavours to help lift it out of the mundane. You can really use any veg mash you like but as celeriac is my favourite and carrot compliments the sweetness in the sauce, and it's good to have an earthier vegetable like swede to balance it out. I've taken a picture of some of the ingredients because photographing cooked sausages is no easy feat. I challenge all photographers to make this and then create an appetising picture. It is feasible, but I had a hot dinner to worry about. Well, here you go:

Serves 4

A pack of sausages (I like Cumberland for this one)

2 tbsp of wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp of Dijon mustard

3 tbsp runny honey

One celeriac (small)

5 small-medium carrots

One swede (small)

2 tbsp of fresh thyme, picked from the woody stalk

Large knob of salted butter (if mash seems very dry, then add more I say)

Preheat the oven to 190C.

Chop up the veg into inch cubes so they don't take forever to cook. Cook in salted boiling water for about 20 minutes - check that they are tender before emptying the water. When you put the veg into the water put the sausages into the oven. Cook the sausages for twenty minutes and make sure you have your honey, and mustards mixed together. When the sausages are nicely browned pour the honey mustard mixture over the sausages, coat evenly and return to the oven for a further five minutes. In the last few minutes of the sausages cooking, drain the veg, add the butter and thyme and let it steam for a minute or two. Get your masher out and work quickly to combine the veg.

Give a generous scoop to each person and top with two sausages per person.