chicken (or whatever meats) pot pie – a holiday meal leftovers solution

• break up the roast chicken meat, reserve the crispy chicken skins on the side and weigh your total amount of chicken meat

note : if you’re starting with raw meat, then brush the chicken pieces with white vinegar, let sit for 15-30 minutes, then brush with olive oil, salt and ground pepper and roast the various chicken pieces on a rack at 230°C for 20 minutes, then let cool down and remove the chicken skins, separate the meat from the bones, break up the meat into smaller pieces and reserve and chop up the crispy chicken skins to be added to the vegetables

• weigh an equal amount (as compared to the meat) of roasted vegatables cut up into smaller pieces (add fresh vegetables if needed and roast them too)

note :  if your vegetables are not already roasted, measure a larger amount of the various uncooked vegetables (for example 150-175 grams potatoes + 150-175 grams onions), toss everything with olive oil, add salt & pepper and dried and/or fresh herbs (I used  tarragon) and the chopped up chicken skins and roast all the vegetables (except for the mushrooms) at 210°C for 10-15 minutes, then at the end, add the mushrooms (cut in half) and bake for an additional 5 minutes

• remove from the oven and mix all the roasted vegetables and chicken together and place in a large deep cooking pan
• to prepare the cream for the filling, melt the butter at high heat in a casserole and add the flour and cook and whisk until frothy (to make the roux), then add the broth, milk (and/or light cream), salt and pepper, bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat and let simmer at medium-heat while whisking until thickened
• add the cream mixture to the roasted meat and vegetables and let simmer at medium heat for 10-15 minutes until slightly reduced and thicker, adjust to your taste with more dried and or fresh herbs, allspice, salt and pepper and fill the ramekins ¾ full and let cool (leave a minimum of 2 cm empty space between the top of the filling and the edge of the ramekin)
• prepare the puff-pastry cheddar cheese dough (to view more precise intructions, see the ultra-quick food-processor puff pastry dough recipe here) but replace half the butter with chilled grated cheddar cheese and half the water with 1 beaten egg (or simply make the regular recipe with only butter, flour, salt and water)
• combine the flour and salt in a food-processor, pulse for 1 second, add the ice-cold butter pieces and the cold grated cheese, pulse for 2 seconds, add the egg and water, pulse twice for 1 second each time, form into a large ball and wrap in plastic film, refrigerate fo 1 hour (or more), roll out and roll up again, then separate into smaller balls, roll out the individual balls to a size slightly larger than your ramekins and about 4-5 mm thick, make a hole in the middle and reserve individually wrapped in the refrigerator until needed (each dough disk should weigh about 70-75 grams)
• when ready, preheat the oven to 210°C for 30 minutes before beginning to bake
• brush beaten egg wash on the top edges and inner top rims of the ramekins then lay the dough circles on top, (try to leave a space between the filling and the dough so the dough can expand upwards and downwards) press down and roll a rolling pin on top to remove the excesss and seal the ramekins, brush the tops with beaten egg wash (place them in the freezer for 15-30 minutes if you can before baking)
• bake for 25-30 minutes and loosely cover with a sheet of aluminum foil towards the end of the baking time (if they are browning too quickly)
• remove from the oven, let cool slightly and serve with a green and herby salad.