“From the SCCC Kitchen” offers Daily Gazette readers tastes from Schenectady County Community College’s nationally accredited American Culinary Federation culinary arts program. Recipes selected by SCCC instructors can easily be prepared at home. Today, culinary instructor Tom Alicandro offers the second of four recipes designed for autumn lunch or supper tables, “Chicken Stew with Puff Pastry.”

Chicken pot pies are hardy fare for cool autumn nights. But they are hardly elegant additions for linen and candlelight. Tom Alicandro has found a way to give chicken, vegetables and pastry a creative spin. His “Chicken Stew with Puff Pastry” is small crocks full of big flavor.

“I like this because you can make individual orders,” Alicandro said. “A lot of people are on the go and they might eat by themselves or not have a lot of time. With the chicken stew, you can even make it over the weekend or the day before. And the puffed pastry crust can just be put on and you can throw it in the oven. So it’s not something you have to sit there all day and eat at that time. You can have it a couple of times during the week and you can leave off the puffed pastry, if you wish.”

Alicandro made sure the stew had autumn accents; so he filled it with fall vegetables such as carrots, onions and potatoes.

“It’s real easy, and it’s seasonal,” added the chef.

CHICKEN STEW WITH PUFF PASTRY

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium onion diced

2 carrots, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 stalk celery, diced

1 pound chicken breast or boneless thighs (skin removed), cut into bite-sized pieces

1 clove garlic diced

1⁄4 teaspoon fresh thyme

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 pint chicken stock

1⁄2 stick butter

4 ounces flour

1 pound potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces

1 sheet puff pastry dough

1 egg, beaten

In large sauce pan or pot, add vegetable oil, onions, carrots, celery, chicken pieces, garlic, thyme and salt and pepper. Cook ingredients until vegetables are tender. Add chicken stock and simmer for 20 minutes.

In separate pan, melt butter and stir in flour on low heat until smooth paste is formed. Add to stew mixture a little at a time until the desired thickness is achieved. Add potatoes and cover until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and let cool.

Place stew into individual crocks and cover each with puff pastry sheets (available in freezer section of grocery stores), securing edges as one would a pie crust. Make a slit to let steam escape in the top of each sheet. Brush pastry with beaten egg to make crust shiny. Bake at 350 degrees until puff pastry is golden brown.

Serves 4 to 6.