Sesame Chicken Pot Pie

SCRAPS #63: creamy, steamy tahini chicken, sesame crusted pastry plus a bonus bone broth recipe

The first newsletter of 2024 is here!

I’ve been a liittle MIA, I started my year off with a frustratingly long cold followed by a sudden back stiffness. I wasn't able to move, sit or properly walk for a solid 4 day period — pretty scary? — then I miraculously recovered after a good night’s rest. I’m still not sure what that was!

I’m not much of a New Year’s resolutions type of person, but I have set some personal goals for the year. One of them is to ferment more foods! I didn’t waste any time and revived my sourdough starter in the beginning of the year. Considering it has been snoozing in the fridge for three months, I’m very proud of how active it has gotten. This is how much it rose in 4 hours:

I’m also working on creating a ginger bug, it’s a similar process to making a sourdough starter, but instead of feeding the starter flour and water every day, you’re feeding it fresh ginger and sugar. I will be using it this week to make some ginger beer — very excited about that! Have you done that before? Tell me all about it!!!

Check out the two sourdough loaves I made this year: the one on the left is a beer, whole wheat and flax seed loaf, and the other one is just a classic, white flour one.

I’ve been struggling to get back into the rhythm of things, but I am slowly catching up on work (and inspiration). I didn’t want to push myself to post something just for the sake of posting, I want to be more intentional with my work, so I’m very grateful for your patience!

I’m happy to be back to sharing recipes on here and I wanted to start with something cozy and very winter-appropriate: a chicken pot pie. The filling is made using a rotisserie chicken, swirled with tahini and covered in a sesame-crusted puff pastry. It makes for a really decadent weeknight dinner.

I’ll be showing you how to make a quick bone broth from scratch, it’s something I always try to do after munching on a rotisserie chicken. That said, you can completely ignore that part of the recipe and use store-bought bone broth instead.

Hope you enjoy!!!

I’m so grateful to have you here!

Carolina xx

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 1 hour (40 minutes if you use store-bought bone broth!!!)

Total time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Printable recipe:

Chicken Pot Pie

118KB ∙ PDF file

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INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium rotisserie chicken — you don’t *have* to use a whole rotisserie chicken, it’s okay if you’ve eaten half the breast or a drumstick in the car :)

BONE BROTH

this step is very optional, you don’t *have* to make bone broth from scratch!!! If you don’t feel like making it, ignore all these ingredients and use 2 cups of store-bought chicken bone broth.

• 2 tablespoons sesame oil

• 2 medium yellow onions (skin on), halved through the root end 

• 1 head of garlic, halved crosswise 

• 1 tablespoon peppercorns 

• 1/2 bunch parsley 

• 6 cups (1.5 liters) water

CHICKEN POT PIE FILLING

• 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup (60g) white miso, plus more as needed

• 4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup (60g) tahini

• 1/2 cup (120g) non-dairy milk, such as coconut, macadamia, etc. OR water

• 3 tablespoons (24g) cornstarch

• Kosher salt 

• 1 large or 2 medium carrots (about 300g)

• 1 medium shallot 

• 4 garlic cloves

• 3 tablespoons sesame oil

• 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes

• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds

PASTRY

• 1 x 0.5 lb store-bought puff pastry sheet, thawed in the fridge for a few hours

• All-purpose flour for dusting

• 1 egg

• 4 to 5 tablespoons sesame seeds

• Flaky salt

SUBSTITUTES FOR:

• bone broth: you can use store-bought chicken or vegetable stock or some chicken consommé powder mixed with warm water until dissolved.

• sesame oil: feel free to use any cooking oil of choice, such as extra-virgin olive oil, grapeseed oil, avocado oil, etc.

• yellow onions: use red onions or shallots instead.

• miso: in order to replicate some of that salty, umami flavor miso brings to the filling, use soy sauce to season the stew instead.

• tahini: think of tahini as the sesame-equivalent to peanut butter, it’s rich, nutty, with pleasantly bitter notes. In this recipe, we’re using tahini for its richness and creaminess, you could replicate that with other nut or seed butters of choice, such as sunflower butter, cashew butter, peanut butter or almond butter. You could also just omit it.

• non-dairy milk: use water or additional bone broth instead.

• carrot: the carrot is here to bring a sweet balance to the bitter tahini notes swirled in the filling, you can use a buttery/sweet vegetable instead, such as sweet potatoes, pumpkin, squash, even beets.

• egg (for the egg wash): you can use water mixed with a little bit of flour or non-dairy milk instead of the egg wash.

• sesame seeds: use other seeds or nuts, such as poppy seeds, flax seeds, chopped walnuts, sunflowers, or simply omit them and sprinkle the pastry with some flaky salt and pepper.

INSTRUCTIONS

Prep the chicken:

Debone the rotisserie chicken, separating the bones, skin and pulled chicken meat. I was left with about 4 cups (700g) of chicken meat.

If you’re not making bone broth, skip to “Make the chicken filling”.

Make the bone broth:

Step 1

In a medium pot (about 3-quarts) over medium heat, add the oil and chicken skin. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until golden brown crispy bits are developed on the bottom of the pot. Push the chicken skin to the side and add the onion and garlic, cut side down in the pot. Sear for 3 to 4 minutes.

Step 2

To the pot, add the peppercorns, parsley bunch, chicken bones and the water. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Loosely cover with a lid and boil over medium-high heat for 20 to 25 minutes, until reduced to a third of the initial liquid.

While the bone broth is boiling, you can start making the chicken pot pie filling.

Step 3

Scoop out the bones, onions and garlic. Strain the rest of the bone broth through a fine mesh sieve. You should be left with about 2 cups of bone broth — more or less.

Make the chicken filling:

Step 1

In a medium bowl, combine the miso, tahini, non-dairy milk or water, and cornstarch. Whisk everything until combined and set aside.

Step 2

Finely dice the carrot, shallot and thinly slice the garlic cloves.

Step 3

In a 12-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat, add the oil. Add the carrots and shallot and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 6 minutes until the veggies have softened. Add the garlic, chili flakes, cumin seeds and cook for 2 more minutes, or until fragrant.

Step 4

Add the pulled chicken meat and toss everything to combine. Add 2 cups of bone broth, tahini-miso mixture and mix to combine. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes until the broth has thickened and has a texture similar to gravy. Taste the broth and season with more salt or miso as needed. I added an additional dollop of miso to mine.

Remove the skillet off the heat and set it aside to cool.

Prep the pastry:

Step 1

Place an oven rack in the center of the oven. Heat the oven to 400°F (205°C).

Crack the egg in a bowl and vigorously whisk until the egg yolk and egg white are combined. Add 2 tablespoons of water and mix to incorporate.

Step 2

Lightly dust your work surface with flour. Place the cold puff pastry on your work surface, dust with more flour and lightly roll it using a rolling pin. Roll it just enough to smooth out the creases on its surface.

Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash all over the pastry’s surface.

Step 3

Sprinkle the sesame seeds all over the pastry, pressing them down using your palms to stick. Fold the pastry in half, lift it and place it over the chicken. Unfold the pastry and poke some holes all over using a knife.

Step 4

Bake the pastry for 20 to 25 minutes, until nice and puffed on the edges and golden. Serve the pot pie right away, with a hefty sprinkle of parsley on top.