Creamy chicken and tarragon pots with rosemary potato wedges

Mmmmmmmmm. There’s not much more to say about Creamy chicken and tarragon pots with rosemary potato wedges – it’s just soooooo good! The dish appears in the Hairy Dieters’ Good Eating book and the recipe was sent in by one of their readers, Amy Huyler, who is the brains behind this sumptuous meal. Take a bow, Amy!

In Amy’s own words, “a tasty, tempting pot of creamy deliciousness with all the yum factor of a Great British chicken pie, but none of the calories of puff pastry or double cream”. I couldn’t put it any better myself so I’m not going to try, except for saying give the rosemary potato wedges a go as they also taste fantastic accompanied with some tenderstem broccoli, perhaps.

Fans of the Hairy Dieters might recall that this recipe is similar to chicken and ham tangle pie which appears in their inaugural diet book (How to Love Food and Lose Weight), but crucially (I don’t know why I said ‘crucially’) takes a little longer to make and is slightly higher in calories due to the addition of the filo pastry topping. But that’s another cracking dish which I’ll try and feature on this blog at some point in the future.Recipe: Creamy chicken and tarragon pots with rosemary potato wedges

Calories: chicken: 231 calories per portion; potato wedges: 109 calories per portion

Serves: 3

Book: Hairy Dieters – Good Eating

Prep time: Approx 30 mins

Cooking time: Approx 45 mins

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2 medium leeks (trimmed and sliced into 5mm rings)
• 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
• 3 rashers of lean smoked bacon
• 2 boneless chicken breasts
• 200ml chicken stock
• Small bunch of fresh tarragon or 1 tsp dried tarragon
• 2 tbsp low-fat crème fraiche
• 30g reduced-fat mature Cheddar cheese (grated)
• Ground black pepper

Rosemary-roasted new potato wedges:

• 400g new potatoes (about 6 large ones) cut into quarters lengthways
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• A large sprig of rosemary
• 1 garlic clove (crushed)
• Flaked sea salt
• Ground black pepper.

Cost per portion: Approx *£1.56 *cost based on Tesco prices – December 2022

Method: Place a large non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the olive oil and leek slices and cook for 3 minutes until the leek is starting to soften. Add the crushed garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C / Fan 180 degrees C / Gas 6. Trim any fat off the bacon and chicken and dice the meat. Add it all to the pan with the leeks, stir and cook over a moderate heat for 5-10 minutes until the chicken is no longer pink. Add the stock to the pan and reduce the heat a little. Cook for 10 minutes until nearly all the stock has reduced and the leeks are completely soft. Turn the heat right down and add the tarragon and crème fraiche, then cook for another 2 minutes. Season with a good grind of pepper.

Spoon the mixture into ramekins and top with the grated cheese. Place the pots on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 15 minutes, until bubbling and golden. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes before serving with green veg and roasted new potato wedges.

Rosemary-roasted new potato wedges: Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C / Fan 180 degrees C / Gas 6 and put a large non-stick baking tray in the oven to heat up. Bring a pan of water to the boil, add the potato wedges and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and put the wedges in a bowl with the oil and rosemary, then season generously.

Mix everything together until the potatoes are well coated, then transfer to the heated baking tray in a single layer. Cook for 20 minutes, then add the garlic, give them a good shake around and cook for another 10-15 minutes until golden and crispy.