Carol's Chicken Pie

Now, how long does a pie take in an aga?

This is a recipe that I've been wanting to share with you for ages, but the timing's never worked out quite right with the cooking and the taking of photographs.

Even now, there isn't a photo of the pie cooked! It was just too chaotic a mealtime to remember to take that final photo.

I made this pie filling up ahead and froze it.  I then took it away with us on our week away in Norfolk and just tipped the filling into the pie dish and topped with frozen ready rolled pastry.  How easy was that!!

It was delicious and the filling did not spoil in any way for having been frozen beforehand.

Serves 4
Ready in 90 minutes

Ingredients
85g plain flour
Half tsp cayenne pepper
Half tsp white pepper
500g skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into chunks
2 tbsp olive oil
25g butter
2 leeks, thickly sliced
Button mushrooms, whole, as many as you like
2 garlic cloves
100ml white wine
250ml chicken stock
142ml carton double cream (or creme fraiche)
140g frozen peas
2 tbsp tarragon, either fresh or dried
Handful of parsley, chopped
500g block ready-made puff pastry
1 medium egg, beaten

Mix the flour, cayenne pepper and white pepper in a large sealable food bag.  Add the chicken pieces. seal the bag, and shake well to ensure all chicken pieces are well coated.

Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan over a high heat, until the button starts to foam.  Fry the chicken pieces for 7-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until light brown.  You may find it easier to cook your chicken in batches.  Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside.
Reduce the heat.  Cook the leeks and garlic until the leeks begin to wilt, add the mushrooms and continue to cook for a few minutes longer.  Add the wine and boil for one minute, then pour in the stock and the cream, or creme fraiche, and simmer for five minutes.
Add the cooked chicken, peas, tarragon and parsley and cook for a further minute.  Leave to cool.

Preheat a baking tray in the oven to 220 degrees or 200 for a fan oven.  Roll the pastry to £1 coin thickness and use to cover your pie.  I always use ready rolled puff pastry here and I must confess to only putting a pastry top on my pie.


Brush the pastry top of the pie with beaten egg and cook on the pre-heated baking tray for 30-40 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown and the filling is hot.

I served my pie with roasted butternut squash and red onions, parmentier potatoes and Brussels
sprouts.  It went down a treat.