Braised Chicken & Cauliflower Pie

   Helllloooo! Where have I been? Well, I've been away! We travelled south to Brantford to see family and celebrate Thanksgiving, and we had a busy and really good time! 
   Anyway, moving onto food! For my birthday a few weeks ago, I decided to make a recipe favourite of mine that I hadn't made in ages! It can seem like a little too much work, but honest-to-goodness, it is so worth it! Also, the work is not intense, there are just a few more steps than a usual chicken or pot pie kind of dish.
   The ingredients are so simple, and (bonus) you can make this a full day ahead, then put into the oven (or...bbq) the day you want to eat it. 
   This pie includes white wine, which is considered to be a on-the-fence item in a paleo diet. If you Google "wine and paleo" you'll get  a bazillion hits and lots of reading material about it. For me, I include it in my paleo life, so, yup. It's in this here pie (be sure to read that like a Hillbilly).  
   Well, you'll want to make this, so stop pondering and just get ready! :)  

Braised Chicken & Cauliflower Pot Pie

For the Insides:

• 2 Tbsp Olive oil
• 4 Chicken leg quarters (4 thighs, and 4 drumsticks)
• 2 Onions, chopped 
• 2 Cloves of garlic, crushed and diced 
• 2 cups white wine
• 1 carrot, peeled
• 1 bay leaf
• Another carrot, washed, peeled and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
• Salt and pepper
  

For the Top:

• 1 Head of cauliflower, cut up
  
• 5 Cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp Coconut oil
• Cup milk (coconut, almond (not vanilla), etc.).

Method:
 
Braised Chicken

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large ovenproof skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil then set the chicken legs in, skin side down, and brown until nice and crispy. Turn over the legs. 
3. Season with salt and pepper. Add the onions and garlic and cook until browned. 
4. Add the wine, carrot and bay leaf. Bring to a boil. 
5. Cover I just use tin foil as I don't have a lid that fits my oven-proof skillet), transfer to the oven and bake for 1 1/2 hours. Uncover and bake until the flesh pulls easily from the bone, about 30 minutes to 1 hour more.
6. Remove the chicken from the skillet to a cutting board to cool. Discard the carrot and bay leaf.
7. Leave the cooking liquid in the pan, add the sliced carrots and reduce it on low-medium heat until thick

While the meat is cooling, and you're reducing your cooking liquid, start your mashed cauliflower top. 

1. Boil the cauliflower and garlic in salted water until the cauliflower is tender, about 10 minutes. Drain.
   
2. Using a ricer or  potato masher, mash the cauliflower and garlic with the coconut oil. 
   
3. Add the milk and puree using an electric mixer. Taste and add salt & pepper if needed.
   
4. Now that the chicken should be cool enough to handle, debone it (take off all the meat!), and put the meat into your now reduced cooking liquid. 
   
5. If you're making these to eat right now (or today), skip to step 7! 
6. If you are making this a day ahead, spoon the meat mixture into four-6 ounce ramekins, then top with the mashed cauliflower. Wrap up tight, and stick 'em into the fridge. When you're ready to make these, stick them into the unheated oven, and turn the oven to 350, and allow to cook for about 45-60 (start timing once the oven has full reached temperature) minutes, until the top is browning and you can see the juices bubbling at the sides. 
   
7. Preheat the broiler*
   
8. Spoon the chicken mixture into four-6 ounce ramekins. Top with mashed cauliflower. 
   
9. Broil until tops gets brown, and you can see the juices bubbling at the sides. 

*My change (because I was using the bbq) was to put the pies back into the bbq until the insides were hot and bubbling, then I took a blow torch to the tops! Hazaa! :)  

The braised chicken in the pan with the onions and garlic, then a picture of the chicken with the white wine, carrot and bay leaf heading into the oven. That last picture shows how rich the colour becomes of the chicken and the sauce. Yummy!

   I know it may not seem like much, but this pie is really fantastic. The white wine becomes a perfect flavour to compliment the chicken and carrots, and isn't "creamy", but adds moisture and a sauciness. 

   Well, I seriously hope you give this a try! It is so good, and you won't be disappointed. Pinky swear.
   Happy Wednesday!!!