In the Kitchen - Left Over Chicken Pie

Firstly, best wishes of health, peace and happiness to all fellow Steemians across the globe !! May this be the year Steem and the various Dapps take the world by storm.

It is almost tradition in most families, well certainly South African families, to over cater on Christmas eve and Xmas day. what with the gammon, tongue, roast lamb, turkey etc. etc.

Then the fun begins .... how can we jazz up the left overs to tantalize our palates.

I decided to use the left over chicken to make Harissa infused chicken pies.

Harissa is a North African hot chili pepper paste, the main ingredients of which are roasted red peppers, Baklouti peppers or serrano peppers, spices and herbs such as garlic paste, caraway seeds, coriander seeds, cumin and olive oil to carry the oil-soluble flavors. Thank you Wikipedia !!

So I removed all the chicken flesh from the carcass and placed in a bowl to which I added two tablespoons Harissa paste and two tablespoons mayonnaise. Mixed well, and left to stand in the fridge for a couple of hours.

I put the chicken wings and the carcass into a pot and added a chicken stock cube, fresh rosemary, thyme, a carrot and half an onion and simmered all this for about 45 minutes to reduce into a delicious stock.

Strain into a jug for when required. (Note: I froze half the stock for use at another time)

Sautee sweet red pepper and chunky cut onion in a heavy base pot until the onions are golden and translucent.
Add some stock and simmer for a few minutes to allow the flavors to develop, then add some fresh cream and simmer some more until reduced to a fairly thick sauce.

Right, now add the chicken and allow to cook on a low temperature setting for a few minutes. Pour into ramikans and allow to cool.

While filling is cooling, roll out your puff pastry to the thickness you desire. We like ours fairly thin...

Cover the now cool ramikans with puff pastry, brush with milk to assist browning and pop into a preheated oven on 220 degrees Celcius (around 440 degrees Fahrenheit). Set timer for 30 minutes but keep an eye .... on the pie ...

Now my good lady is really parsimonious with her praise .... so when she announced that it is 'probably the best thing I have ever cooked' I was gobsmacked and knew I just had to share.

It was the first time I have cooked with Harissa Paste and I found it imparted a smoky, chillie warm but not hot taste... absolutely delicious overall... and the cream turned out be a perfect companion. I will definitely try my hand at some more dishes using this paste.

Share some ways that you handled holiday seasons left overs... I would love to hear

Thank you for stopping by

Namaste