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

Short Crust Pastry: -


Ingredients –
225g (8oz) Plain Flour
50g (2oz) Lard
50g (2oz) Butter
½ tsp Salt
2 tbsp Cold Water

Note – the type of fat you use for short crust pastry is really up to you. Butter, Lard, Vegetable fat, Margarine, whatever. I remember my grandpa using half butter and half lard, so I stuck to that.

Method –
1 – Sieve the flour and salt together into a bowl. Tip – always sieve the flour, as you need to make it fluffy when making pastry.
2 - Cut the butter and lard into small cubes approx 1cm in size and add to the flour.
3 – Rub the fats lightly into flour, use the tips of you fingers and lift the mix up as you go. This puts air into the mix. Do this until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. Once it gets to this stage stop. The flour contains gluten, and over mixing does something to the gluten so it becomes chewy and not short and crisp. It’s like making shortbread, to much mixing and the shortbread will become chewy when cooked.
4 - Make a small well in the middle of the mixture and add a little cold water, mix using a knife, do this until the mix is a nice dough similar in texture to play-dough or modelling clay. Do not have the party sticky. If it does add a little more flour.
5 – Wrap the pastry in Clingfilm and put in the fridge for al least half an hour. Or freeze it for another day.

To cook the pastry bake in a preheated oven at between 190°C: 375°F: Gas 5 or 220°C: 425°F: Gas 7 depending on thickness and use.