Farmer’s Pie: a perfect way to use leftover roasted chicken!

Seems like it is easy to have leftover chicken, especially when we roast a whole chicken. I love having roasted chicken leftovers because it gives me a leg up ((haha get it?? LEG up?? — I crack myself up. Probably, I am the only one who cracked up at that, ho hum.)) on another meal. The meal possibilities are endless. Chicken spaghetti, chicken enchiladas, chicken tetrazzini, chicken & dumplings, chicken stuffing and on and on. See what I mean? Lots and lots of meals can come from roasted chicken leftovers.

For this recipe, I had the idea to make a play on Shepherd’s Pie, or as we call it around my house: “Shepard’s Pie”. Shepard, Gracie and Brod LOVE my mashed potatoes ((David does too, if you are wondering– oh and I LOVE LOVE my mashed potatoes!!)). The women on both sides of the family take the skill of mashed potato making VERY seriously.

I developed the skill early on & have the ability to whip them up, recipe-free and perfect every time. Well, except for that one time the salt shaker burst open…it is pretty hard to recover from that, oops!

Before I go forward in talking about this recipe, I have to say – this  chicken came from my roasted Slow-Cooked Whole Chicken. If you haven’t tried this method of cooking a whole chicken, you really should! It is a real winner. One thing I love about this recipe, besides how easy & yummy it is, is the bonus chicken broth that comes from cooking the chicken this way. I saved the broth, heated it, added a simple corn starch/cream slurry, thickened it into a gravy and adjusted the seasoning to my taste.

Once the gravy is made, I have found straining it to remove any veggie bits, gravy clumps or chicken pieces helps create the perfect silky gravy ((my mouth is watering just thinking about it!!)).

That gravy, combined with the left over chicken ((minus the bones)) & a nice mix of frozen veggies makes a really lovely meal. I am going for more than lovely meal — I want a knock-out meal! Topping it all with perfect skin-on, buttery, creamy, cheesy potatoes certainly does the trick.

I hope this idea for re-using leftovers inspires you to a little more “home-cooking”!

Oh, one final step: I lightly broiled the “Farmer’s Pie” and sprinkled the top with a touch of fresh chopped parsley. Delicious perfection!! and I wasn’t the only one who thought so, see: