Chicken & Leek Pie
Serves: 4 - 6
Ingredients
- 445g pack Carême sour cream shortcrust pastry, thawed
- 1 tablespoons olive oil
- 50g unsalted butter
- 2 large leeks washed & finely sliced (or 3 small leeks)
- 1 large carrot, cut into four then finely sliced
- 350g chicken thigh (2 large or 3 small thighs), cut into 4cm pieces
- 1 tablespoon plain flour
- 100ml white wine plus a little extra for delglazing
- 150ml chicken stock
- 100ml thickened cream
- pinch of dried tarragon or herb of choice (ex: lemon thyme, oregano, marjoram)
- 1/2 cup frozen peas (optional)
- 1 egg yolk, lightly whisked with a dash of milk
Method
- Preheat oven to 220°C (200° fan-forced).
- Melt butter and olive oil in a large heavy based pan over a low heat. Add leeks and carrot, gently sauté over low heat until soft, about 25 minutes, season with salt and pepper.
- Don’t be tempted to rush cooking the leeks; gentle slow cooking is what is needed. Check every 10 minutes to make sure they are not browning.
- While the leeks cook pre-heat a sauté pan and sauté the chicken pieces, season with salt and pepper, once browned (about 5 minutes) turn off heat and add a splash of white wine to deglaze the pan, set to one side.
- Once leeks are cooked add the flour and stir for 2 minutes, add the chicken pieces and any liquid in the pan, then gradually stir in the 100ml white wine and the chicken stock, reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Now add the cream and continue to simmer for a further 5 minutes. Add the peas (optional) and your choice of herbs, stir to combine.
- Remove from heat and transfer chicken filling to a large tray, spread it out to cool down, if making the day before cover and pop it in the fridge overnight.
- It’s important the filling is cool before assembling the pie.
- Find a decent sized family pie plate. Remove pastry from the packet, from one half of the pastry cut a 24-26cm circle and place this in your pie tin.
- If you need to roll it out a little further, place pastry on a lightly floured surface and roll as required. Fill with pie filling; cut another circle from the remaining pastry, small enough to sit over the top of the filling just inside the rim of the dish.
- Eggs wash a 2cm border around the pastry lid, then fold over the base pastry, crimping and gently pressing down as you go. Place three holes in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape, egg wash the top of the pie.
- Place on a baking tray in preheated oven, bake at 220°C (200° fan-forced) for 10 minutes, then reduce oven to 200°C (180° fan-forced) and continue to bake for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.
- Serve with a big bowl of steamed broccoli tossed in olive oil and sea salt.
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