Chicken & Leek Pie
I never ever dreamed of making a pie, quite frankly, I thought that any main course that involved pastry was for people who wore aprons, cooked on Aga and owned hens. But one day after having damn fine pie at a friends house - who was definitely not a keeper of hens I realised that I needed to look into bringing pies into my life. So I started by trying to come up with something that involved pre made pastry and a pre cooked chicken. Now if I say so myself … this recipe which involves very little chopping and measuring and is the ultimate in comfort food … is waaaay better than any pie I've had out. I suppose its not because I’m the better cook but because its all the things I like. So you could take this recipe and make it your ultimate pie in the the same way I did. For instance … you could use different mustard or none at all, you could use a different herb or mixed herbs. You could use smoked pancetta or any other type of ham, bacon or lardon. I made this yesterday and used up a load of turkey and also lots of fresh parsley as well as the thyme in recipe.
Anyway - I’m so glad that Pie over at my friends inspired me to make this and that the penny didn’t drop at the time that she had bought the pie and had not in fact made it herself!!
1 Cooked Chicken – stripped or 500 g of cooked chicken
1 or 2 Cloves Garlic
140/170 G pack of pancetta or bacon lardoons . Or similar amount of the ham or bacon of your choice. I use unsmoked
3 leeks (slice first and wash after if they are very dirty).
Pre Rolled Puff Pastry - make sure your pie dish can be fully covered by a sheet.
1 Chicken Stock Pot jelly cube to make 500 ml
50 mls Sherry.
1 or 2 Teaspoon Grainy Mustard (optional)
200 ml single cream (double is fine)
Needed no herbs if you mix use a cooked whole chicken and mix through with the herb crusted skin before discarding the skin before cooking.
1 teaspoon thyme (or your preferred herbs)
40 g /3 tablespoons butter
1 Egg – for egg washing the pastry.
Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Melt about a teaspoon of the butter in a large frying pan or wok over a medium heat and add the pancetta. For some recipes I cook these until almost crispy but for the pie I don’t over cook them and don’t forget they will be going into the oven anyway.
Scoop the lardons out of the pan and set aside.
Melt the rest of the butter and add the leeks to the pan and fry until silky, add the garlic about half way through doing the leeks. Add your stock and bring it up to a simmer. Let it bubble for a minute or so but don’t reduce the liquid too much, then stir in the cream, mustard, thyme and the bacon. Season with plenty of black pepper but remember with the bacon you may not need that much salt. Finally stir in the chicken.
Pour the chicken and sauce into the pie dish and allow to cool. Brush the rim of the pie dish with egg wash, then place the pastry on top, pressing down to seal. Crimp the edges with a fork for a bit of the trad look, then cut a small hole in the top and brush the whole lot with egg wash. With any left over bit of pastry you can make a little cross or design on top.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes until the pastry has risen and is golden, and allow to cool slightly before serving. 180 degrees
Serving
Pictured above you can see I often also make individual pies. I got these dishes in a sale in Dunnes Stores and if you serve them like this you really need nothing else for weeknight dinner or if having a friend or two for lunch they are lovely with just a salad of greens on the table. I
If doing the Pie as a large pie then I recommend serving something else too - like a mashed potato and some other veg. Peas can work - for some reason I’m highly suspicious of peas IN a pie … but not on the side!!
Make in Advance
So as this dish is made with pre cooked meat it is ideal for making in advance. If you make this in the morning you can just put a bit of heat under it and add the cream at the last minute and put the pastry on just before people arrive.