Roast Chicken & Potato Pie

Reheating a roast chicken dinner in a microwave is like going to a recent Guns N' Roses gig. The ingredients are all there but they're a little saggy and tired. Don't get me wrong, it's still Guns N' Roses, but it's the 'Chinese Democracy' Gunners rather than the 'Appetite For Destruction' Gunners. So save those leftovers from middle-aged mediocrity and give them a rejuvenating remix with this Roast Chicken & Potato Pie recipe.

Your roast won't be the same as mine, so use this recipe as a rough guide and use what you have. It doesn't even need to be leftover chicken. Lamb, beef or pork will be just as good.

Roast Chicken & Potato Pie

Ingredients

roast chicken/beef/pork/lamb, diced

roast potatoes

gravy

whatever else you had with your roast

1 onion, diced

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 tbsp plain flour

1 cup stock

black pepper

herbs if you have them.

Method

Preheat your oven to 200C.

Slice your roast potatoes into 5mm disks and set aside.

Chop your meat and leftover veg into bit-size pieces.

I added a couple of diced fresh carrots for colour and a bit of variety.

Fry the diced onion and carrot on a medium heat in a large pan until softened.

Turn down the heat to low and add the meat and other leftover vegetables and a sprinkle of chopped or dried herbs. Parsley, rosemary, oregano, thyme, tarragon or dill will work a treat. Hold back the potatoes and the gravy at this stage.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour over the ingredients in the pan and stir to combine.

Now pour over any leftover gravy and stir.

The flour will have made the mixture gluey so you're going to loosen it up with a cup of stock, wine or water. Stir it in bit-by-bit, then turn up the heat to thicken the sauce again. You want the liquid to be thick enough to 'sit-up' on a spoon, but thin enough that it still runs (slowly).

Check the seasoning and add salt and black pepper if necessary.

Transfer the mixture to an oven-proof dish and layer the potatoes on top.

Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with thyme if you have it, and give it a few grinds of black pepper before putting it in the oven.

30 minutes and you'll be in Paradise City, sweet child o'mine.

Sorry.