Tag Archives: honeyed chicken

Honeyed Chicken Handpies

Honeyed Chicken Handpies, from Game of Thrones

These mini pies are a great way to enjoy one of the staple dishes from Winterfell. I came up with the recipe for them back in February for HBO’s Take the Black event in NYC. Recently, reader Rachel asked if I could post the recipe. Naturally, that meant I had to make another batch of them. What a shame… ;)

The pies are transportable, and savory with just a hint of sweetness from the raisins and honey. If you happen to have leftover honeyed chicken (I know, it’s unlikely!), you can use it to make this pie. They are conveniently made in a muffin pan, either regular or jumbo-sized, and will quickly disappear. After you have thoroughly picked over the chicken for all the good meat, use what’s left to make some awesome chicken stock!

Mini Honeyed Chicken Pies

–makes around 6 jumbo muffin size pies, or around 12 smaller pies

Cook’s Notes: If you have already made honeyed chicken, you can skip several of the steps here. Just add the sauce to the roux, followed by the broth, and continue as below.

Ingredients for pastry dough:

  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 egg yolk (save the white for glazing)
  • ½ cup water
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 stick butter
  • 1 egg white beaten with a bit of milk, for glazing

Ingredients for Filling:

  • ~1 ½ lb. cooked and shredded chicken meat
  • 2 Tbs. butter
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 2/3 cup honey
  • ½ cup dried currants, or chopped golden raisins
  • 1 ½ cup chicken broth
  • Hefty pinch of salt
  • Pepper to taste

Roux:

  • 2 Tbs butter
  • 2 Tbs flour

Rub the stick of butter into the flour and salt, then add the egg yolk and enough cold water to bring the whole mixture together. Chill in the fridge while you prepare the filling. Combine all ingredients except the chicken and the roux in a saucepot, and cook for around 10 minutes. In a smaller separate pan, make the roux by melting the 2 Tbs. butter, then add the 2 Tbs. flour. Stir to combine, then add a ladle of the broth from the other pot. Do this a couple of times, while stirring, then add the butter/flour mixture back into the main pot. Add the chicken and cook for a few more minutes, stirring to make sure the meat absorbs the juices. Turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll out to 1/4″ thick. Cut circles large enough to fit into the muffin pan you intend to use, as well as smaller discs to serve as the tops of the pies. Press the larger discs of dough into the muffin cups. Spoon the filling into each dough-cup, then wet the top of the dough with water. Place the smaller discs on top of the filled pies, and gently fold down the outer dough so it covers the tops. Poke a couple of vent holes in the top of each mini pie, brush with glaze, and bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on size, until the tops are nice and golden.

preparing the mini pies

Folding over the edges

Honeyed Chicken

“‘Hungry again?’ he asked.  There was still half a honeyed chicken in the center of the table.  Jon reached out to tear off a leg, then had a better idea.  He knifed the bird whole and let the carcass slide to the floor between his legs.  Ghost ripped into it in savage silence.” -A Game of Thrones

Thoughts:

Yum. The sauce reduces down to a thick, syrupy consistency, which melts ever so slightly when drizzled over the hot chicken.  The raisins soak up the sauce, and become absolutely delicious little morsels.  Combine a bite of the chicken, dripping with the juice from the plate, with a plump raisin, and you’re golden.

Bottom line?  Omnomnom!

 

Medieval Roast Chicken Recipe

This was a recipe that gave us some difficulty; Absurd, when it seems so straightforward.  However, there appear to be no recipes for “honeyed chicken” from a surviving period cookbook.  At last, we found a recipe that we could work with.  Thank you Ancient Romans!  Now, you say that ancient Rome is not the Middle Ages, and you are correct.  However, we use what we can.  And really, it’s honeyed chicken.  Are you really going to hold that against us?

Our changes:  Since this dish is mentioned in The North, we took out a few things that were more Roman than Stark.  We started with Apicius’ recipe for Chicken in Honey and Dill Glaze (Apicius, 6.8.2).  Instead of white wine vinegar, we substituted apple cider vinegar, and added raisins, assuming that raisins are easier to come by in The North than are grapes.  We eliminated the dill and date syrup for the same reason. Also, absolutely no fish sauce with our chicken.  This left us with ingredients as follows:

Ingredients:

  • 1 whole chicken for roasting
  • olive oil/butter (~1 Tbs)
  • salt

Sauce:

  • 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1/3 cup honey
  • Dash of mint, dried or fresh (abt. 1 tsp.)
  • Small handful of raisins
  • ~1 Tbs. butter

Rub the chicken down with olive oil/butter and salt.  This makes the skin crispy and delicious.  Cook in an oven at 450 degrees F for approximately an hour, or until the juices run clear, and the thick meat of the breast is no longer pink.

While your chicken is roasting away in the oven, combine all ingredients in saucepan and allow to simmer until the raisins plump and the sauce reduces slightly.  Remove from heat, and when the chicken is done, spread the sauce and raisins over the bird.

Enjoy!