This chicken vegetable pie recipe is based on my much loved vegetable pie recipe. In a previous post I shared that each weekend I take 3 simple actions to be real food ready each week and one of them included roasting a chook. This week I used some of that roast chook to make this chicken and vegetable pie. Great for leftovers in the lunchbox too. And if you want to get cheeky, you can smash it up and serve scrambled for breakfast too.
Ingredients
- 1 good sized white potato
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 large zucchini
- 1-2 tblspns butter
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 2 mushrooms diced
- 1 cup grated vegetables – I used cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkin, zucchini
- 2 x breasts of roasted chicken – chopped coarsely
- 4 tblspns basil pesto (this recipe by Brenda Janschek is lunchbox friendly)
- 500g ricotta
- 1 1/2 – 2 cups grated tasty cheese
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- pinch of herbamare or salt
- Good grind of pepper
Method
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees
- Slice the potato long ways, about 3-5 mm thick, then lay them out on the base of a 20cm baking dish
- Slice the sweet potato long ways, about 3-5 mm thick, then lay them out on top of the potato. Lay the slices in the same direction because it will make it easier to cut into big pieces when cooked.
- Slice the zucchini lengthways into long strips, about 5mm, then lay them on top of the sweet potato (same direction again)
- Melt butter over medium heat
- Saute the onion until soft
- Add in the grated vegetables and cook until soft
- Add chopped chicken and 2 tblspns of pesto and stir until well combined
- Spread the chicken and vegetable mixture on top of the potatoes and zucchini strips
- Whilst chicken and vegetables are cooling, mix the ricotta with 1 cup of tasty cheese
- Whisk eggs and milk, then add to the ricotta and cheese, and mix well
- Add in the last 2 tblspns of pesto, herbamare salt and pepper, and mix well
- Pour this cheesy eggy goodness all over the potatoes, zucchini and chicken mixture
- Use a fork to gently push the chicken and vegetables around so the cheesy egg mixture filters its way to the bottom of the pan
- Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of the pie
- Bake in the oven for about 1 hour – the cheese should be melted and golden on top. To test if the potato is cooked, gently push a knife into the pie. If the knife penetrates the bottom layer of potato easily, then it’s ready.
Serve with a big garden salad or steamed beans and delicious corn from the farmers markets.
2 Other Ways
- Mash up a can of cannellini beans with a bit of lemon juice and spread this onto the potatoes before adding the chicken mixture.
- Layer some passata on the vegetable base, then the chicken mixture before pouring on the cheesy egg mixture.
Just a reminder, you don’t need to be a master chef, or have a big spotless kitchen to make awesome nutritious meals or snacks for your family.