This dish is one of my all-time favourites and it is very easy and very tasty. This is also my favourite memory from when I was starting out my career as a professional chef. I love cooking this at home and I cook it often. It doesn’t really require specific recipe ingredients.
You can make it from scratch or using Sunday roast leftovers; after all it's a humble pie, known as pithivier. It is rich, tasty and very comforting. In Mauritius, where I am originally from, this dish is very common, as we are very much influenced by French cooking. It can be served either hot or cold.
Visham Sumputh is head chef at Etto restaurant in Dublin 2
Chicken pithiviers
Makes four
Ingredients
For the farce:
500g chicken thigh meat (deboned)
100g smoked bacon
50g chopped wild mushrooms
2 tbs chopped tarragon and chervil
For the chicken mousse:
2 chicken breasts
1 egg white
50ml cream
Sheets of good quality puff pastry, large enough to cut out four 18cm circles and
four 10cm circles
Beaten egg for egg wash
Baked mashed potatoes:
1kg Rooster potatoes
200g Irish butter
100ml milk
Sprig of thyme and bay leaves
Method
1. For the chicken mousse, dice the chicken breasts, add egg whites and blend in a food processor. Transfer to a bowl and fold in the cream. Keep this chilled in the fridge.
2. For the farce (stuffing), dice the chicken thighs into small pieces and cut the bacon the same size. Chop the mixed wild mushrooms.
3. Add the farce mix and the chopped herbs to the chicken mousse and season with salt and pepper. Cook a little piece in frying pan to check the seasoning and if need adjusting do so.
4. Divide the mix into four (you can use a mould or ramekin lined with cling wrap) and leave to rest for 30 minutes in the fridge.
5. Cut the puff pastry into circles. You will need two sizes - for the base 10cm and to cover it 18cm.
6. To assemble, take the base 10cm puff pastry circle and put the farce mix in the centre, brush egg wash on the edge of the pastry and cover it with the 18cm pastry circle.
7. Shape it like a little dome and make sure there are no air pockets in the pastry. Brush egg wash over the top and leave in fridge to set for an hour, then bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes and leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving.
8. To make mash with baked potatoes, bake the potatoes at 160 degrees Celsius for hour and half. Extract the flesh from the skins and pass through sieve and keep warm.
9. In a pot infuse milk and herbs and a few baked potato skins for 10 minutes. Add butter and infused milk to the potato and mix well to get a smooth and silky texture. Season to taste.
10. Serve the pithiviers hot, cut in half, with mash and veg. They can also be served cold.
Kitchen Cabinet is a series of recipes from chefs who are members of Euro-Toques Ireland, who have come together during the coronavirus outbreak to share some of the easy, tasty things that they like to cook and eat at home #ChefsAtHome
