Chicken and Leek Pie

A few weeks ago I was given some leeks by a neighbour who had grown them in her garden, and she had too many to use. When I got them I tried to think what to do? Maybe make soup?


Then I remembered my Grandpa making Chicken and Leek pie. So I decided to have a bash on making my own version.

First you start off by making the short crust pastry, then the filling.

Make the short crust pastry as described in a previous post.

Filling

Ingredients:-
250g of chopped boned chicken. (you can use whatever part of the chicken you want, breast, thigh, or leg but the brown meat has more flavour.
2 roughly chopped leeks.
2 cloves finely chopped garlic.
1 glass of white wine.
½ pint of chicken stock.
A little corn flour to thicken / or alternatively use a little chicken gravy granules.
50ml of double cream
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Egg wash to glaze the pie.

Method: -
1 – Take the chicken and brown it with a little oil in a saucepan. Remove and put in a bowl once done.

2 – Add the chopped leeks and garlic to the pan and sweat them done till the leaks are just starting to soften.

3 – Add the glass of white wine, and chicken stock and allow to it reduce for 15-20 mins.

4 – Now add the chicken gravy granules or corn flour to thicken the sauce.

5 – Add the cream, and salt and pepper to taste.

6 – Allow the mix to cool while you make the pie shell.

7 – Take the short crust pastry out of the fridge, and take a 10” fluted deep pastry tin.

8 – Line the dish by slicing 5mm discs from the short crust party, and make a sort of patch work effect on the pastry tin. Push them together to till all the tin is covered with pastry. This is much easier to cover the dish than rolling it out.

9 – Place a sheet of greaseproof paper in the pie case, fill with beans or coins and blind bake the pie case to 10-12 mins at 190°C: 375°F: Gas 5.

10 – Take the case out the oven remove the beans or coins and bake for a further 5 mins.

11 – Remove the case from the oven and allow to cool for 5-10 mins. Now add the pie filling but not too much that you are overfilling it (you should have some filling left) and roll out the remaining pastry to 5mm thick. Using the rolling pin roll up the pastry and place it on the top of the pie.

12 – Cut the pastry round the tin, and using a fork, crimp the edges of the top pastry onto the base, cut two breathing holes in the centre of the pie top and apply an egg wash to glaze the top of the pie, and put into a preheated oven at 190°C: 375°F: Gas 5, for 30-40 mins until the top is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and serve with crushed potatoes with plenty of butter and pepper.

Note - You should have some filling and pastry left over, what I do is make small chicken and leek parcels and precook then freeze them. Then I can have them as snacks or lunches another day

Venison Pie

This was a recipe of my grandmothers and I have made a few small tweaks to make it better. I made it for my Mother-in-law on Sunday night and she was well impressed, so a few points for me on the old ladies score pad.


Ingredients: -
0.5 kg of diced venison
150g button Mushrooms cut to the same size as the meat, (it is better to use wild mushrooms but these are not always available).
150g of chopped mixed peppers, (roughly chop them to about 1 to 1 1/2" pieces)
A little sunflower oil
1 large onion finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 bottle of red wine
2 tea spoons Chinese 5 spice
2 tea spoons of English Mustard
2 tea spoons of brown sugar
2 tablespoons of corn flour
Knob of butter
1 large pack of Puff Pastry (I never make my own, it's better to buy it)
1 beaten egg to glaze the pastry

Method: -
1 - Heat the oil in a pan, and brown the meat, remove and drain.

2 - Place the drained liquid from the venison back in the pan and add the onions and garlic to soften. As the onions go transparent add the meat again.

3 - Add the mushrooms, peppers, the red wine mustard and Chinese five spice, and simmer for 40-60 Min's. This will allow the meat to become tender.

4 - Add a little water if required and mix the corn flour with a little water and add to the stew, add the sugar and salt and pepper to taste. Allow the mix to cool.

5 - Place the filling into a pie dish and cover with the puff pastry. Apply an egg wash to the pastry. I find folding the pastry round the corners of the pie dish helps when the pastry starts to shrink while cooking, I also use a pie funnel as it stop the pastry falling into the filling and going soggy.

6 - Cook in a pre-heated oven at 200 deg C / 400 deg F /Gas Mark 6 for 30 - 40 Min's, until the pastry is golden brown.

Serve Immediately. I find that this goes really well with mashed sweet potato.