I’m at my parents this week, and decided to treat everyone to a fabulous favourite of mine, homemade chicken and leek pie. The cheat this week is store bought shortcrust pastry (i do have a recipe for homemade in my prior chicken pie post)- so head there if you want to keep this truly homemade all the way.
Ingredients
1kilo chicken breast (or chicken thighs- my parents had chicken thighs so i used those, you will need to debone the thighs, and if you use those or breast you then need to shred with a fork once cooked)
2 leeks
1/2 red onion chopped finely (optional)
1 tub single cream
1tsp chilli flakes, salt and pepper, cayenne pepper, garlic granules and onion granules
1 chicken or veg stock cube (today we used chicken usually i use veg stock cubes)
2 packs of ready rolled shortcrust pastry
1tsp sesame seeds (optional)
1 knob of butter ( 2tsps)
Olive oil drizzle and salt and pepper (half tsp of each)
1 egg whisked
Method:
Step 1- Get that chicken washed, onto a deep baking dish drizzle with olive oil and add a little salt and pepper- bake on 180c 30 mins, then a further 10-15 on 200c- take out of the oven transfer to a dish and shred (if you use thighs vs bread then remove the bones and keep the chicken shredded to the side)
Step 2- Add your butter and chopped leeks, cook until the leeks are soft, add in your chopped red onion (you can also add mushrooms if you have them we didn’t). Add in your salt, pepper, chilli flakes, cayenne pepper, stock cube, onion and garlic granules. Sauté it all together, pour in your single cream and cook for a further 5-10 mins until all of those flavours have cooked through and combined nicely. You should have a lovely slightly thickened mixture, at this point add in your wonderful shredded chicken and mix. Leave to the side after a further 5-10 mins off the heat. (Taste your mixture to see if want to add anything else eg more salt/ pepper or chilli flakes- cooking is about tweaking to what you love so tailor to your palette).
Step 3- Take and butter a pie dish with around 2 inch depth, place your first pastry sheet in (it should cover the depth of the dish and length of the dish with enough pastry draped over the edge.
Step 4- Pour your slightly cooled mixture into the pastry and add your final pastry sheet on top, pinch all of the sides together to seal it. you might have excess pastry at this point so chop off any excess and use that to garnish the top of the pastry with this in either little leaf or flower shapes whatever you want.
Step 5- Use your whisked egg to wash over the pie (at this point you can top with sesame seeds if you want- this bit is completely optional).
Step 6- Poke or slice two holes in the top of the pastry to let any steam out- place in a heated oven for 30 mins gas 180c and a further 10-15 on 200c until it’s that glorious golden brown colour.
Step 7- serve up with gravy, mash potatoes (we made mash potatoes as our side), greens like asparagus or brocolli would be amazing on the side or otherwise eat all by itself with a touch of gravy.
Note- for my veggies out there you could totally forgo the chicken and use vegetable stock cubes (my fave), mushroom, sweetcorn and any other vegetables you have to make this mix at step 2 above.
Note 2- You can also make these into little individual pies too- you will need a pie dish for 12 with deep centres and some pastry cutters but they are also super cute, freeze well and work for anyone living alone who wants individual sized pies- blue peter style see below for some i made before.
A savoury delicious pie/ 12 individual ones that you can enjoy alone or with family or friends! They also keeps really well in the fridge so great for batch cooking days if you have a busy work week ahead! Happy Baking x
If you made it to the end i would love to know if you tried this recipe- it’s an easy one! Lots of love x
