What do you do with left-over roast chicken or turkey? This recipe is a riff on a classic French recipe: Tarragon Chicken (Poulet à l'Estragon) made into pot-pie comfort food. The slight anise flavor of tarragon pairs beautifully with chicken or turkey, but feel free to substitute more traditional poultry seasoning herbs like thyme and rosemary. Although the list of ingredients is a bit lengthy, the recipe comes together very quickly. Use a good quality store-bought puff pastry or pie crust to save time, or if inspired, make your own pie crust or biscuit recipe. If you use biscuit dough, roll the dough to ½ inch thickness and cut the dough into individual biscuits to bake atop the chicken and sauce.

Tarragon Chicken Pot Pie
Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of cooked chicken (or turkey) cut into ½ inch cubes

• 2 medium carrots ¼ inch dice

• 1 stalk of celery ¼ inch dice

• ½ medium onion chopped

• ½ cup green peas

• 1 ½ cups chicken stock

• ½ cup crème fraiche

• 2 teaspoons dried tarragon

• ¼ cup dry sherry (or dry white wine)

• 2 tablespoon flour

• ½ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon black pepper

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 1 package of puff pastry made with butter (or use a more traditional pie crust or biscuit recipe)

• 1 egg yolk + 1 tablespoon of milk for the pastry wash (optional)

Preparation:
Preheat your oven to 400 F.

1. Saute the onion, carrots, and celery in a tablespoon of oil until the onion is tender.

2. Add the flour and stir for a minute to coat the veggies.

3. Over medium-high heat, slowly add the stock and sherry stirring constantly. Bring to a slow boil, lower the heat to a simmer, and add the chicken, tarragon, crème fraiche, salt, and pepper. Continue to simmer over low heat for 5 minutes while you prepare the puff pastry.

4. Roll out the cold puff pastry lightly with a rolling pin. (Best to use the pastry while still cold before it reaches room temperature.) Using a fork, pierce the central area of the pastry a few times.

5. Pour the chicken and sauce into a 9 x 9-inch Pyrex baking dish (I used a 9 ½ x 7-inch oval baking dish)

6. Drape the pastry over the baking dish and using a sharp knife trim pastry around the edges of the baking dish. Using a fork, pierce the pastry a few times. (See *Note)

7. Brush on the egg wash with a fine-bristled pastry brush and place in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes. When done, the crust should be puffy and golden and the sauce bubbling. Serve while hot and enjoy!

   *Note: Alternatively, trim the pastry to the size of your baking dish; pierce a few times with a fork. Place the pastry on a sheet pan and bake until light brown. Once baked, carefully place the crust on top of the baking dish with the chicken and sauce and bake, monitoring, until the sauce is bubbly and the crust is golden brown. (less than 30-40 minutes) This will ensure a crunchy crust without any sogginess.

Wine pairing: white wines that have enough body to stand up to the rich sauce. Good choices would be White Burgundy, White Rhone Wines, Viognier. A good quality Rosé would also work.