Duchess Potato Chicken Mushroom Pie

I want to rave about the rich, savoury filling of this Chicken Mushroom Pie, but all anyone can talk about is the Duchess Potato topping… Fluffy and buttery inside with crispy parmesan crusted ridges, I want to pick them off one by one and eat them all by myself!
This is a pie with a lid like no other. We are talking fluffy, buttery swirls of mashed potato piped into mounds – Duchess Potato style – drizzled with butter and baked until golden, crusted with parmesan.
The peaks and ridges are crispy, the inside is fluffy and creamy, and the underside soaks up the rich sauce of the pie filling underneath. It’s basically a fancy potato crown for your pie……
Sorry puff pastry! You’ve been dethroned!
As for what’s underneath? A rich pie filling with big juicy bites of chicken and mushroom with a deeply savoury dark brown sauce that tastes like you’ve been slow cooking for hours rather than 15 minutes.
It’s definitely a cut above your regular chicken pie. In fact, it was originally christened an Extra Good Chicken Mushroom Pie (go on, have a giggle and mock my lack of creative writing skills!). I had planned to tell you the little extra things I do to make it extra good: Guinness beer for instant depth in the sauce (think – Guinness Stew!), searing chicken pieces whole rather than chopped for better colour (which equals flavour), and using beef rather than chicken stock for a darker, deeper flavoured sauce.
Little things – but they make such a difference!
Ingredients:
- 60 g / (4 tbsp) unsalted butter , approximately divided into 4
- 4 garlic cloves , finely minced
- 1 1/2 tsp cooking salt / kosher salt , divided
- 1 tsp black pepper , divided
Pie filling
- 750 g / 1.5 lb chicken thighs , boneless skinless
- 500 g/1 lb button mushrooms – very small ones whole , larger ones halved or quartered
- 100 g / 3.5 oz thick cut streaky bacon , cut into 2.5cm/1″ squares
- 1 1/2 onions , cut into 2cm/1″ square or thick wedges
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme (or 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
- 1/4 cup plain flour (all-purpose flour)
- 3/4 cup Guinness beer
- 1 1/2 cups beef stock / broth , low sodium
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
Mashed potato topping
- 1 kg / 2 lb starchy potatoes , peeled, cut into 2.5cm / 1" cubes
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter , cut into 1.5 cm / 1/2″ pieces
- 1/3 cup milk , hot
- 1/8 tsp white pepper (sub black)
Topping
- 30g / 2 tbsp unsalted butter , melted (or olive oil spray)
- 2 tbsp grated parmesan
- 2 tsp finely chopped parsley for garnish , optional
Prep Time:
20 minutes
Cook Time:
60 minutes
Total Time:
80 minutes
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