Creamy Chicken Boxty

Mid-August. Dustin’s grandmother on his mother’s side — Grandma Eileen Murphy — came over Saturday afternoon for an apartment-warming visit. She is seventy-six. She drove herself from Owasso in the small green Buick she has been driving for fifteen years. She had brought a small wooden cutting board she had asked her son Dale (Dustin’s uncle, a carpenter in Owasso) to make for me, and a small folded paper with a handwritten recipe on it for an Irish dish called boxty that she said had come from her own mother in 1962 and that she had been making across her whole adult life.

Sunday I made the creamy chicken boxty from Grandma Eileen’s recipe. Boxty is a grated-and-mashed potato pancake stuffed with creamed chicken — the kind of Irish-Catholic comfort dish that lives in Murphy-family kitchens and not in any American cookbook I had ever read. The pancake is a wet potato batter that gets cooked in a skillet to a thin tender disc; the filling is poached chicken in a from-scratch white sauce with peas and fresh dill. The pancake gets folded around the filling and served warm.

I made twelve boxty pancakes Sunday afternoon. Six got eaten by Dustin and me at dinner Sunday night. Six went into the freezer in single-serving foil packets for the future. I sent a photo to Grandma Eileen at seven PM with a small thank-you note. She texted back at seven-fifteen: young lady, you made it correct. I have it framed in my head if not on the wall.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

For the Boxty:
2 cups raw russet potato, peeled and finely grated
1 cup mashed potato (from about 1 medium potato)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp unsalted butter, for frying
For the Creamy Chicken Filling:
2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded or diced
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 small yellow onion, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp garlic powder
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Fresh parsley, chopped, for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Prepare the raw potato. Place the grated raw potato in a clean kitchen towel and wring firmly to remove as much moisture as possible. Transfer to a large mixing bowl.
Make the boxty batter. Add the mashed potato, flour, egg, milk, salt, and pepper to the bowl with the grated potato. Stir until a thick, cohesive batter forms. It should hold its shape when scooped.
Cook the boxty cakes. Melt 1 tbsp butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Drop heaping 1/4-cup portions of batter into the pan and flatten gently to about 1/2-inch thickness. Cook 4—5 minutes per side until deep golden and cooked through. Work in batches, adding remaining butter as needed. Transfer finished cakes to a plate and tent loosely with foil to keep warm.
Start the filling. In the same skillet (wiped clean), melt 2 tbsp butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook 4—5 minutes until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and cook 30 seconds more, stirring constantly.
Build the sauce. Sprinkle the flour over the onion mixture and stir to coat. Cook 1 minute. Gradually pour in the chicken broth, whisking continuously to prevent lumps. Add the heavy cream, thyme, and garlic powder. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook 3—4 minutes until the sauce thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Finish the filling. Stir in the shredded chicken and frozen peas. Simmer 2—3 minutes until the peas are heated through and the chicken is warmed. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Assemble and serve. Place two boxty cakes on each plate and ladle the creamy chicken filling generously over the top. Garnish with fresh parsley if desired. Serve immediately.

Nutrition (per serving)

Creamy Chicken Boxty — A Sunday Brunch from Dustin’s Owasso Grandmother