Chicken Parmentier

1. For the topping, boil the potatoes in salted water until tender. Drain and push through a potato ricer, or mash thoroughly. Stir in the butter, cream and egg yolks. Season and set aside.
2. For the filling, melt the butter in a large pan. Add the shallots, carrots and celery and gently fry until soft, then add the garlic. Pour in the wine and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the tomato purée, chopped tomatoes and stock and cook for 10–15 minutes, until thickened. Add the shredded chicken, olives and parsley. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
   1 minute10–15 minutes
3. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/Gas 4.
4. Put the filling in a 20x30cm/8x12in ovenproof dish and top with the mashed potato. Grate over the Gruyère. Bake for 30–35 minutes, until piping hot and the potato is golden-brown.
   30–35 minutes

Cooking notes

When scaling protein-led dishes, weigh the meat rather than counting pieces, and remember that the pan size limits how much you can sear at once.

For volume-to-weight conversions of any ingredient — flour, sugar, butter, salts — use the ingredient converter. To translate the recipe's oven temperature between °C, °F and gas mark, see the temperature converter.

When you scale this recipe up or down, remember that cooking time does not scale linearly. A doubled cake takes longer, but not twice as long; a doubled soup takes roughly twice as long. The cooking-time guide gives sensible starting estimates by dish geometry.