Chicken Pie With Sweet Potato Crust

This is comfort food. If you’ve lots of time, follow the recipe as
given; the sauce will be rich and the chicken will be tender and
moist. But if time is short, use a ready-cooked chick- en and
tetra-pack chicken stock and steam or boil the vegetables. It is
important to use white-fleshed sweet potato to make what is
essentially a scone topping.

Put a No 10-13 chicken in a large saucepan. cover with water, add a
third of a tablespoon of dried tarragon (or a table- spoon of fresh),
a pinch of salt and bring to the boil. Reduce heat immediately to a
gentle simmer, skim off foam and poach gently until the chicken is
just cooked. about 1 hour.

Twenty minutes before the end of cooking time add 200 g diced carrots
and 5 minutes later 2 large leeks, sliced, and 200 g peas. When
chicken is cooked, drain off stock into another saucepan and boil
hard to reduce for 10 minutes. Cool stock fast by sitting the
saucepan in a sinkful of cold water, then transfer to the freezer to
set the fat so it can be skimmed off

Skin the chicken, remove the meat from the bones and chop. Put the
chicken and vegetables in a souffle or oven dish. Melt 50 g butter or
margarine in a saucepan and add 3 tablespoons plain flour to make a
roux. Add 250 ml chicken stock and 200 ml milk and cook gently,
stirring, until the sauce thickens. Add more stock if too thick. Pour
over the chicken mixture.

Meanwhile cook and mash 250 g white-fleshed sweet potato and allow to
cool. Sift together 125 g plain flour, 1 teaspoon salt and 1 teaspoon
baking powder. Rub in 125 g softened butter. Add a little water if
necessary to make a soft dough. (Or process the ingredients in a food
processor, adding the water if necessary.)

Tip onto a floured surface and with floury hands pat it out to fit
inside the top of the dish containing the chicken and vegetables.
Place on top of the chicken mixture. Bake in a 180 C oven for about
45 minutes or until the top is golden.