RecipeTin Eats’ chicken pithivier with creamy white wine sauce

Name: RecipeTin Eats’ chicken pithivier with creamy white wine sauce
Cook time: 2 h 30 min
Yield: 2 pies (to serve 4 total)
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 1.25kg skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets; 1 tsp cooking salt; ½ tsp black pepper; 4 tbsp unsalted butter

RecipeTin Eats

June 5, 2023

Chicken pithiviers with creamy white wine sauce.Rob Palmer

Time:2 hours +Makes:2 pies (to serve 4 total)

Tender shredded chicken with a creamy white wine sauce inside golden flaky pastry is a match made in heaven.

Ingredients

1.25kg skinless, boneless chicken thigh fillets
1 tsp cooking salt
½ tsp black pepper
4 tbsp unsalted butter

Creamy white wine sauce

2 onions, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
1½ tbsp plain flour
½ cup white wine
3 cups low-salt chicken stock
¼ tsp cooking salt
¼ tsp black pepper
⅓ cup thickened cream

Method

Step 1
Season the chicken all over with salt and pepper.
Step 2
Melt the butter over medium-high heat in a large heavy-based Dutch oven. Sear half of the chicken thighs for 2 minutes until brown, flip them and sear the other side for 2 minutes. Set aside and repeat with the remaining chicken. Set aside.
Step 3
In the same pot, still on medium-high, add the onion and cook for 3 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and thyme and stir for 30 seconds. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, then pour in the wine, stirring, and scrape the base of the pot. Reduce the liquid by three-quarters, then add the chicken stock, salt and pepper.
Step 4
Return the chicken to the pot and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and poach the chicken for 20 minutes.
Step 5
Transfer the chicken to a casserole dish, shred with 2 forks, then roughly chop into smaller pieces with a knife.
Step 6
Strain the sauce through a fine sieve, pressing the juices out of the onion. Add the onion caught in the sieve to the chicken. Return the sauce to the pot and simmer without a lid on medium-high for 25 minutes or until the liquid reduces to 400ml (1⅔ cups). Stir in the cream then remove from the stove.
Step 7
Stir 1 cup of sauce through the shredded chicken, then set chicken aside to cool. Also allow remaining sauce to cool, then cover and refrigerate. You’ll use this to serve.
Step 8
Proceed to pithivier construction steps.

Notes:

If you have less sauce than specified, the flavour will be too intense. Dilute with water.
If you have too much sauce after straining out the filling, reduce it on the stove to the target quantity (otherwise the flavour may be too diluted).
Freeze the filling in the bowl (see pithivier building). Once frozen, release the filling from the bowl and return it to the freezer, where it will keep for up to 3 months.