Chicken Shepherds Pie

I know I have been away from this blog for a while now. Life just gets too busy sometimes and time gets away from me. I have been cooking and here is one of the new favourites in our house. I have made this dish several times over the past few weeks and have tweaked the recipe some with each version. The original recipe was from Rachel Ray's web site and it called for shredded carrots and green onions but I have changed this to diced carrots and leeks.

Ingredients:

4 large baking potatoes peeled and cut into chunks,
Salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2 pounds chicken breast, cut into 1/2 inch dice
Black Pepper
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup frozen peas
2 Leeks, thinly sliced and diced
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1/2 cup white whine
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
6 sprigs tarragon or parsley leaves, removed and chopped,
about 2 tablespoons
1 5oz package soft and garlic herb cheese, such as Boursin
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup milk or chicken stock, enough to loosen the potatoes
Paprika for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the broiler, place an oven rack at the center of the oven.

Place the potatoes in a medium pot and cover with cold water.
Bring to a boil, salt the water and cook until tender; 12-15 minutes

While the potatoes are cooking, place a skillet over medium high heat
with about 1 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil.
Add the chicken, season it with salt and pepper and cook until golden brown
and cooked through, about 6-7 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the pan to a casserole dish,
add a drizzle of oil to the pan, then add the carrots, peas and leeks.
Season the veggies with salt and pepper and cook until tender, about 2 minutes.

Scoot the vegetables over one side and melt in the butter.
Sprinkle the flour over the butter and cook for about 1 minute, stirring.
Whisk in the white wine, cook 1 minute, then whisk in the chicken stock
and cook for 1 minute to thicken.
Season the sauce with mustard and tarragon/parsley the salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the sauce and vegetables over the chicken in the casserole and
combine.

Drain the potatoes and return them to the hot pot, then mash with the herb
and cheese, egg yolks, parsley,milk or chicken stock; salt and pepper.
Spread the potatoes over the chicken in the casserole dish.

Put the dish under your broiler until the top is golden brown, 3-5 minutes.
Garnish with paprika.