Chicken, Leek and Potato Bake

Chicken, leek and potato bake is a creamy, cheesy English comfort dish that gives the whole lunch in a single dish.

1. Cook the potatoes half-tender in salted water, in their skins or peeled – they are right when a knife still goes in with slight resistance. Drain them, and once they have cooled enough to handle, cut them into rounds about half a centimetre thick.

2. Cut the chicken breast fillet into roughly 2 cm cubes. Melt the butter in a pan and fry the meat over a medium-high heat, lightly browning it, until it whitens.

3. Cut the white and pale green part of the leek into thin rounds, add it to the chicken, and braise it tender in 3-4 minutes, stirring.

4. Sprinkle over the wheat flour, stir it in, then gradually pour in the meat stock and the cream. Stirring constantly, boil it in a few minutes to a creamy, sauce-thick consistency. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Layer it into an ovenproof dish: potato rounds on the bottom, the chicken-and-leek cream on top, and continue like this until it runs out – the top layer should be potato.

6. Sprinkle over the grated cheddar, and bake in an oven preheated to 190 °C for about 25-30 minutes, until golden and bubbling.

Tip: After cutting, wash the leek thoroughly round by round – a lot of grit can lodge between its leaves, which cannot be washed out whole.