Who doesn’t love pie! I love making this because it’s lovely and creamy and never fails to please. I usually make it with just a puff pastry top however, this time I decided I wanted a proper pie! What you serve with this is up to you. I personally love to have it with some homemade chips or a creamy mash alongside some vegetables, I find honey roasted carrots and parspnips go really well with this.
Mood: When you’re craving classic hearty comfort food
INGREDIENTS
3 chicken breasts (chopped into cubes and seasoned with salt and pepper)
6 spring onions (roughly chopped)
1 large white onion (diced)
3 cloves of garlic (minced)
A good handful of mushrooms (chopped)
1 celery stalk (diced)
1 tub of creme fraiche
1 tbsp plain flour
400g chicken stock
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Handful of fresh thyme
Shop brought puff pastry
Shop brought shortcrust pastry
1 egg (beaten for brushing pastry)
METHOD
Preheat your oven to 180C
1. Heat up a large pan with 1 tbsp of oil and add the white onion, celery and garlic and cook on a low heat until until the onions begin to become translucent. Take out the shortcrust pastry from the fridge to give it time to come to room temperature.
2. Add the seasoned chopped chicken along with the flour, mushrooms and spring onion. Give it all a good mix before adding the creme fraiche.&
3. Mix well then add the thyme, dijon mustard, vegetable stock, salt & pepper. Cover with a lid and let it simmer on a low heat for around 10-15 minutes.
4. Meanwhile roll out your pastry on a lightly floured surface until big enough to cover the pie dish (be sure not to roll too thin – thickness of a pound is sufficient).
5. Carefully place the shortcrust pastry into the pie dish using your fingers to make sure it’s covering the base, trim off the excess pastry but don’t worry if it overhangs slightly. Pierce the bottom with a fork in a couple of areas of the base. Add the baking paper on top of the pastry and fill with baking beans (use lentils if you don’t have these) and blind bake the pastry for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, take the baking paper out and blind bake for a further 5 minutes then set aside. Turn the oven up to 200C.
6. Pour in the pie filling, cover with the puff pastry and use the excess pastry to make some leaf shapes, or other creative pie decorations (your time to show of your artistic talents as well as your cooking skills!) Then brush with the egg wash.
7. Make two or three slits in the top to allow the steam to escape, place in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is a beautiful golden brown colour.
Enjoy – T x
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