I have perhaps never experimented more with food than I did with this week’s pie. I wanted to take the idea of a chicken pot pie to the next level.and I was instantly attracted to the idea of layers. Each layer would contain an ingredient that normally goes into a pot pie, cooked separately in a different manner and then layered together. I didn’t really use a recipe for the whole pie but took inspiration from different recipes to make each layer.
Following is a breakdown of how I cooked the main ingredient in each layer followed by how I assembled everything. From beginning to end, I felt like a mad scientist trying to concoct something insane and I think I succeeded in doing just that.

Pastry

I used a basic flaky pastry with half butter and half shortening with a bit of dried thyme for added flavor.

Chicken 

Whole chicken, de-skinned it and cut it into pieces. Add the chicken to boiling water with sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary,  two carrots cut into big chunks, a medium onion halved, stalks of one head of celery, salt and black pepper. Boil for almost 45-60 minutes till chicken is tender. Drain chicken pieces and reserve stock and put it on heat again. Boil until stock reduces to less than half the original quantity.
Prepare other ingredients while the boiling happens. Once chicken is cooled, take out the chicken pieces, shred using fingers or a fork and discard the solid vegetable/herb pieces.

Mushrooms

Sliced 1 cup of white mushrooms, washed and patted dried. Heat butter in a pan, add four cloves of garlic chopped and add the mushrooms after a few seconds. Saute until the mushrooms turn brown and most of the water evaporates. Add a cup of sherry, seasons and simmer until most of the sherry evaporates. Reserve.

Carrots

Using a peeler, peel thin ribbons of around 8 carrots. Heat butter in a pan. Add carrot ribbons and on a medium low flame, saute and stir until the carrots starts turning golden brown. Turn off the heat and reserve. Be very careful as the ribbons may burn if left unattended (this happened to me and I had to do the carrots again).

Mashed Potatoes

Peel 4 red potatoes and cut in small cubes. Bring water to boil and boil the potatoes until a fork can easily break a cube of potato, around 20 minutes on a medium flame. Drain potatoes, add to a bowl and add a few tablespoons of whole milk and a few tablespoons of butter while mashing the potatoes with a fork. Avoid working the potatoes too much or else they will become gluey and elastic.

Celery and Peas

Saute a small onion chopped in some butter and add chopped celery stalks from one head once onions turn translucent. Saute for a few minutes. Season and add 1 cup frozen peas. Simmer until all the water evaporates and the peas are tender.

Omelet 

Beat 4 eggs together with some salt and two tablespoons of whole milk. In a medium sized saucepans, add a knob of butter and pour a bit of the egg mixture to make a round omelet. Flip occasionally until omelet is cooked. Repeat until you have four omelets.

Gravy

Saute a medium chopped onion with some butter until onion changes color to brown. Add a few tablespoons of flour and mix with a wooden spoon for a minute or two to remove the rawness on a medium flame.. Add 3 tablespoons of heavy cream. Whisk and add a cup of hot stock and incorporate it in. Keep adding stock until the sauce attains a fairly thick consistency and retains it even after a few boils. Taste to check if any seasoning is needed in the gravy. However, it should be fairly well seasoned because of the stock.

Putting It Together

Roll out the pastry. Put in the pie platter and refrigerate for five minutes. Take it out and wash with egg white at the bottom to avoid sogginess. Following is the way I layered the pie but it can be in sequence:

Herbed Chicken – Omelette – Garlicky Mushrooms – Omelette – Caramelized Carrots – Omelette – 4 Cheese Mix + Peas & Celery – Omelette – Buttery Mashed Potatoes – Chicken

Roll out more pastry for the top crust. Seal it on top of the pie and wash with egg yolk and milk mixture and bake at 400F until crust is golden brown. Meanwhile, cut out roses or chickens or other decorative shapes to be baked separately until pastry is golden brown and then put separately on top of the pie once the pie is cooked. I used toothpicks to secure put the roses on top (thanks to Neftaly for showing me how to make

Madness achieved. Serve with warm gravy on the side.