Chicken Pie with Bacon and Peas

Serves 8-10

1 chicken about 2.24kg in weight
2 carrots, halved
1 stick of celery, halved
1 onion halved
Sprig of thyme and parsley
1 lt water or light chicken stock
250ml cream
Roux
400g cooked ham chopped on to 2cm cubes
450g peas (not cooked)
6 eggs hard boiled for (10 minutes) peeled and chopped roughly
450g button mushrooms, cut in half and tossed in 25g butter in a pan on a high heat for 4 minutes until golden
2tbsp chopped tarragon.

400g puff or flaky pastry, rolled to ½ cm thick
Egg wash (1 beaten egg) to glaze
Or
1.75g mashed potato

Remove any giblets from the inside the chicken, place the whole chicken in a large saucepan or casserole pot, add the carrots, celery, onion, tyme and parsley and 1 litre water or light chicken stock, season with salt and pepper and cover. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 1 and ¼ hours (or pop into a moderate oven) until the chickedn is cooked. You will know when it is cooked as the leg will be quite loose and you can pull it from the carcass. Take the chicken out of the pot and set aside for a few minutes. Remove the vegetables and herbs from the liquid in the pot and pour the cream. Bring to the boil and whisk in some roux about 2-3 tablespoons but start with 1 tablespoon until it has thickened slightly while you are adding the roux the liquid must keep boiling in order to thicken.

Remove the meat from the chicken carcass and chop roughly and place in a large pie dish about 25x35cm, then add the chopped ham, peas (can be straight from the freezer), the chopped hard boiled eggs, the browned mushrooms and the chopped tarragon, season to taste.

If you are making this in advance, let it cool down before putting the pastry on top.

For a puff or flaky pastry top: cut the pastry to the same size as the top of the pie dish and arrange on top, making a hole in the centre to allow steam to escape. Brush the pastry with egg wash (1 beaten egg) to give it a nice glaze.

Cook it in an oven preheated to 230 degrees for 10 minutes, then turn down the oven to 190 degrees Celsius and cook for another 20 minutes approximately, until the pastry is golden brown and the mixture is bubbling hot.
For a mashed potato top: arrange the mashed potato on top of the chicken mixture and lightly score the top, place in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius and cook for 20-40 minutes or until golden brown on top and bubbling hot.