Chicken leftover pie à la grecque

This chicken leftover pie is a great way to make use of roast chicken, a perfect second act for all those households that love roast chicken, but don't have the capacity to devour an entire bird at the Sunday table. An entirely new recipe, it was inspired by the comments of friends.

A poultry tale

This recipe that came to me on a whim is entirely the result of comments by two friends. The first, my friend Fiona, who reminded me that it is far more economically and environmentally sensible to buy a whole chicken than chicken pieces... and you can make your own topnotch chicken stock from the carcass.

That's the reason I jumped at the opportunity to buy a quality chicken going for a song at the close of play in one of those local butchers that the chattering classes love. I lovingly roasted the bird, with a fairly traditional stuffing and a Belgian rotisserie seasoning mix recipe that I coaxed out of the very posh chicken van proprietor—the van is the size of an Airstream caravan—when my partner Luc lived in the Fruithoflaan in Antwerp.

Fruithoflaan, Antwerp

This wide, long boulevard is a surreal modernist dream, like Tati's Playtime (1967) realised as an actual inner-city neighbourhood contemporaneous to the iconic film. Even more surreal was the regular Friday evening sight of the well-heeled elderly bourgeoisie, many of whom had moved in when the area was first developed, lining up in a orderly fashion to treat themselves to a perfectly roasted chicken. There is something special about watching a gaggle of madameke bontjas ("madame fur coat") Antwerpenaars scampering off with roast chickens in foil bags to be served at home as a no-hassle Friday supper.

With a little charm and a lot of chicken purchases under my belt, the posh chicken van man finally gave me his "secret" seasoning recipe of some 15 dried herbs and spices. I make the seasoning about once a year in my spice grinder (because it lasts a long time) and it has become my go-to roast chicken seasoning.

So, inspired by my friend Fiona, last Sunday, I roasted an entire chicken and only then realised that for me, as a person home alone, it was going to take some effort to get through it all. I posted my First World dilemma of what to do with an entire roast chicken on Instagram. Enter my friend Adrian, whose solution was, "Make chicken pie."

Now, I suspect this is because Adrian is not unfamiliar with my boozy tarragon chicken pie. But, the chicken for that has to be cooked in an entirely different way. Nonetheless, the seed was sown and, in fact, his was the perfect solution.

Greeks bearing gifts

Half-thinking about how I would do it with already cooked chicken as I half-watched some crime drama, it suddenly popped into my mind. In the 1970s, there was this unforeseen revival of chicken à la king, a dish that English-language recipes books and TV cooking shows attributed to being created by the respective chefs of Claridge's in London or Delmonico's in NYC in the 1880s, depending on which side of the Atlantic they were. Very soon, chicken à la king—or, rather, a simplified version thereof without all the good stuff such as the sherry, egg whites or a true velouté sauce of fine dining 19th-century traditions—was something time-pressed housewives were serving up on suburban dining tables on both sides of the Atlantic.

This rather grated with the Belgians. After all, this creamy chicken and mushroom dish not only appeared in French and Flemish treatise on cooking dating back to the 17th-century, but it is a key ingredient in one of Belgium's unofficial national dishes, vol-au-vent (colloquially called videke in Flanders), a main course of a large vol-au-vent filled with exactly this creamy chicken and mushroom creation with the addition of tiny, delicious pork meatballs cooked into the stew.

There was hardly any point trying to "revive" a dish that had never left; no incentive for the middle classes to latch onto a new trend that could already be found on the menu of every local restaurant.

à la grecque

Enter poulet à la grecque, which applied the same formula of the Anglophone trend. Only here, the TV chefs simplified a 19th-century dish from closer to home; posh French cuisine's fantasy about the Greek table, most usually applied to a style of cooking vegetable side dishes. From what I can remember, having watched some woman in a Demis Roussos kaftan cook it on TV supposedly inspired by her holiday in Mykonos, the principle was the same: a good use of roast chicken leftovers. But the 1970s outing used cream (rather than the fromage frais in my recipe), oregano (rather than fennel seeds), and did not use the sweet peppers that make this recipe delicious.

As with chicken à la king in Anglophone territories, soon poulet à la grecque, served with rice, appeared regularly on department store tearoom and school cafeteria menus, an easy and tasty crowd pleaser.

Making a meal of it

This is a very hearty chicken pie and needs nothing except a simple green salad, if anything at all, to accompany it. However, I was making it for someone special and wanted to make more of a meal of it. Hence, I've paired it with a small Greek salad and sautéed Greek-style potatoes, continuing with the Hellenic theme. I'll assume you all know how to make a Greek salad, but am including the recipe for the potatoes.

This recipe feeds 4 diners as main course portions. It you are saving portions, remember that when you are using roast chicken leftovers that have been store in the fridge for more than 24 hours, it's advisable that you either immediately freeze portions of this pie for reheating later, or store them in the fridge in foil, but consume them within 24 hours.

3 top tips to get this recipe right:

• The thing about roast chicken leftovers is that they're left over, So, o it's not always easy to predict how much chicken will be left on your bird. To give you some idea of the portions I'm using, I would say it was just under a third of a medium-sized chicken; a combination of white breast meat and meat from a thigh, leg and wings; skin removed. If you have less than that, simply make it up with more mushrooms and vegetables.

• When making any chicken pie with mushrooms, I recommend both are "chunky" vs daintily cubed i.e. mushrooms thickly sliced and the chicken in fairly large pieces, larger than bite-sized. This helps to keep the filling juicy and the discernible flavour of each when baked, something that is particularly useful if you plan to store portions for later re-heating.

• When cooking the pie filling, use virgin olive oil rather than extra virgin olive oil. You actually want the flavour of the olive oil (even better if you use Greek olive oil) to be marginally present as a flavour, something that doesn't happen with the more refined extra virgin olive oil.

Shopping list

for the chicken leftover pie à la grecque

• Approx. ⅓ of a roast chicken; skin removed, cut into fairly large pieces; cooled

• 2 medium red onions; chopped

• 2 sticks of celery, sliced

• 2 medium sweet red peppers; deseeded and sliced into rings

• 4 cloves garlic; finely cubed

• 150g chestnut closed cup mushrooms; thickly sliced

• Approx. 200ml crème fraîche (full-fat)

• 2tbspns double concentrate tomato purée, diluted in 1 cup boiling water

• 1 heaped tspn whole fennel seeds

• The juice of 1 fresh lemon

• 1.5 tspns black pepper, coarsely ground

• 2 to 3 tbspns virgin olive oil

• Approx. 300g puff pastry; store-bought or homemade

• A little milk (optional)

• An egg; whisked

• salt to taste

side dishes

• A small Greek salad with minced mint

• Sautéed Greek potatoes

for the sautéed Greek potatoes

• 2 to 3 medium potatoes; skin-on, scrubbed and very thinly sliced

• 2 medium echalion shallots; halved vertically and sliced

• A generous clutch of flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

• 100ml white wine

• The juice of 1 fresh lemon

• A pinch of sumac (optional)

• 1 tspn mushroom ketchup (optional)

• 3 tspns of capers

• water

• salt and pepper to taste

Cooking method

the chicken leftover pie à la grecque

1. In a pot or deep pan with a lid, heat the olive oil on a medium heat. Add the onions and celery and stir, coating all surfaces with the olive oil. Sauté for a couple of minutes, then add the lemon juice, reducing the heat to low-medium. When the lemon juice has cooked in, add about 60ml of water, cover and simmer until the celery and onions have notably softened

2. Add the sweet peppers and about 30ml water to create more steam. Re-cover and allow the peppers to "steam" for about a minute without stirring

3. Add the fennel seeds and garlic, waiting until the pan is almost dry before your stir them in. The idea is to toast them slightly, but not allow them to burn. Add the sliced mushrooms. Pour over the diluted tomato purée, add the black pepper, and mix all of the ingredients. Re-cover and gently simmer until the peppers and mushrooms are soft and fully cooked, stirring occasionally. Simmer for at least `15mins. This is how long it takes for tomato purée cook properly, to change from being a brash tomato flavour to a rich, silky tomato flavour. If your ingredients are cooking dry, add additional water and/or reduce the heat. Either way, gently simmer them into a cohesive flavour

4. Add the fromage frais and gently fold in. Re-cover and simmer the creamy mixture for 2 to 3mins, adding salt to flavour

5. Add your chicken pieces and gently fold in, then remove from the heat almost immediately. This chicken has already been roasted and will be baked in the pie, so you really don't want it to cook any further at this point. Cover and allow to cool fully. NB: ideally cook your filling some hours before; even the night before. The trick to getting the pastry just right with this kind of pie is that the filling needs to be added fully cooled or, better still, slightly chilled from storing in the fridge for a few hours

6. Roll out your pastry and lay it into the base of your pie tin greased minimally with a little butter. Prick holes into the bottom of the pastry and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200°C (400°F) for 15mins. Keep your pastry for the lid chilled while you do this. Allow the pre-baked pasty base to fully cool to room temperature before the final baking stage

7. Add your cooled pie filling to the pre-baked pie case, spreading it out evenly. Gently lay the pastry for the lid, securing to the edges of the dish with a little whisked egg. Press down well at the edges. Sparingly baste the pie lid with the egg and make about three slits in the centre of the pie. (NB: I am using an egg bath here without milk to simulate certain Eastern Mediterranean pastries. However, if you prefer your pastry with a more classic French feel, add a little milk to the egg bath)

8. Bake in the centre of a pre-heated oven at 180°C (360°F) for approx. 30 to 35 mins or until golden

9. Remove from the oven and allow to rest, covered with a clean kitchen towel, for at least 10mins before plating or taking to table to with your preferred side dish/es

the sautéed Greek potatoes

1. Heat the olive oil in a fairly deep frying pan on a medium heat, then add the shallots. Sauté until they begin to soften, add the potatoes, turning so that they are coated in the hot olive oil on all sides. Sauté, turning occasionally, for at least 10mins

2. Add the lemon juice and the parsley, and stir in. Sauté for another 3 or 4mins, stirring frequently so that the parsley does not burn

3. Add the white wine (or water as an alternative), and allow the ingredients to simmer in the open pan for a few minutes, then add the mushroom ketchup and sumac. Keep topping up the pan with just enough water (e.g. 30mls at a time) to keep the potatoes simmering in minimal liquid until they are cooked to your liking. NB: these potatoes are not sautéed potatoes of the variety that will have "crisp" edges. Season with salt and pepper to taste at this point

4. When the potatoes are cooked to your preference (it's fine if you choose to cook them to the point they begin to flake if that is your preference) stop adding water and allow the sugars from the wine, lemon and shallots to slightly thicken the glaze-like "gravy"

5. Add the capers and allow them to fully heat for a minute or so, but not actually cook as such. Plate or take to table with your pie in a serving dish

Alternatives

Despite this dish being entirely invented around roast chicken leftovers, it is easily turned into a lactovegetarian version; but not easily into a vegan one.

For the lactovegetarian version, either substitute the chicken with the equivalent quantity of Quorn pieces that you have previously sautéed in olive oil and 2tspns of dark soy on a low heat for about 10mins or increase the quantity of mushrooms and sweet peppers.

As with many other recipes that use dairy as an intrinsic ingredient, I can't comment on the efficacy of plant-based alternatives because I seldom try them out.

Because this is an entirely new recipe and I haven't had time to try it out, I can't claim that it is tested, but I would be very interested in experimenting with a pescatarian version in one of those situations where one has don a whole salmon and has quite a lot of it left over; a situation where one could actually carve out quite big fillet pieces and treat much as the chicken in this recipe. Watch this space.

Pairings

Okay, so I lucked out: the special person for whom I was cooking this rocked up with a bottle of 2019 Antonin Rodet Pouilly-Fuissé, which proved the perfect chance pairing given he didn't know what I was cooking; a chardonnay of impeccable provenance without being too snooty to break bread with a meal inspired by leftovers.

The citrus hints of lemon were perfect to pick up that ingredient; the heavier woody and nutty moments perfect for the beauty of fennel seeds; massively underestimated in my opinion. All in all, I couldn't imagine a better pairing.

That said, I guess I will have to take it on the road and find some more quotidian options in keeping with the ethos of this site. But, like I said: new recipe.