I did not feel I had the strength of make dinner last night after a busy day helping researchers, schlepping children back and forth to school in the 32 degree heat, as well as enduring some pretty wicked joint pain. Alas, I don’t know how these pretty pies made it to the dinner table, but they did! And the kids loved them. I had wanted to experiment making soffrito the Italian base of so many dishes, consisting of chopped onion, celery and carrot. It did really provide a flavour base for this nice filling. I also added some herbs and garlic. Nothing complex here, just working consistently to add depth. Plus the cream was a really satisfying addition.

Ingredients

1 cup chopped rotisserie chicken

1 carrot diced

1/2 stalk celery diced

1/2 onion diced

2 garlic cloves diced

1 teaspoon oregano

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon flour

3/4 cup cream

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

3 sheets un-thawed puff pastry

1 egg scrambled

Directions:

Make your soffrito by putting olive oil in a saucepan and adding diced onion, celery & carrot. Cook for 10 min. Add a few tablespoons of water if soffrito is becoming too browned. Add garlic and oregano.

Now add the flour and stir to cook the flour. Add chicken. Add the cream and use a whisk if necessary to make the sauce less clumpy. Bring to a low simmer. Add salt and a few cracks of black pepper. Adjust seasoning. Sauce should be thickened after a few minutes. You want a bit of sauce but not too much. Allow sauce to cool slightly.

Cut shapes out of the puff pastry – either large or small triangles or scalloped rounds. Begin to place small amounts of sauce in rounds or triangles. Do not overfill. Close pastry by pressing both top and bottom sheet together with a fork. Brush with an egg wash if desired.

Cook at 350c for 20 mins.