Chicken and bacon pot pie with sweet potato crust

Add 1 tablespoon of bacon grease and the butter to the onions. Stir well, and when the butter is melted, sprinkle over the flour. Stir everything together until there is no trace of flour visible. Slowly whisk in the milk and chicken broth (measure them together in a four cup measuring jug), scraping the flour from the bottom of the pan. Add the chopped sage, nutmeg, a generous pinch of salt and lots of ground black pepper. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until the sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the chicken and bacon pieces, making sure everything is well coated with sauce. Taste and add salt and pepper as needed. Scrape the chicken filling into a two-and-a-half quart baking dish and smooth the top. Cool completely. The filling can be made up to one day ahead, covered and refrigerated.

For the Crust:

While the chicken is cooking, prick the sweet potatoes with a sharp knife a few times and microwave until soft, about 10 – 12 minutes. Hold the potatoes with an oven mitt or tea towel, then cut them in half and scoop the flesh into a small bowl. Mash the flesh with a fork until you have a smooth puree. You need 1 cup of mashed potatoes. Leave to cool completely. (Alternatively, you can bake the potatoes in the oven until soft, about 1 hour).

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt in a large mixing bowl with a fork. Cut the butter into small cubes and drop it in the flour. Toss the butter in the flour to coat, and then using a pastry blender, two forks or your clean hands, rub the flour and the butter together until it is blended with a few pieces of pea-sized butter visible. Add the sweet potatoes and the egg and, using a fork, blend together. Get in there with your hands and knead the dough together into a cohesive ball. Dump the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, pat it into a rectangle, wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

When ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roll the pastry out into a sheet that will fit over the top of the filling. Drape the pastry over the top and tuck the sides around the filling. Cut a few slashes across the top to let steam escape.* Brush the top with a thin coat of buttermilk and sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake the pie for 40 – 45 minutes until the crust is golden, the filling is hot through and bubbling. Serve immediately.

*I usually serve this in a rectangular baking dish, but you may use a deep round or square dish if you prefer. The easiest way to use the crust is to simply roll it out and drape it over the filling, but if you want to get creative, use a cookie cutter to cut the vents on top of the crust, or cut our shapes and layer them on the top, touching each other. I used a nice fall-themed leaf-shaped cutter for the picture above.

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