Keyword easy, family meals, midweek meal, pie, simple
Prep Time 25 minutesminutes
Cook Time 1 hourhour
Total Time 1 hourhour25 minutesminutes
Ingredients
The filling
450mlchicken stock
3chicken breasts, skin removed
75gbutter
2leeks, cut into 1cm slices
2garlic cloves, crushed
55gplain flour
200mlmilk
3tbspwhite wine
150mldouble cream
150gpiece thickly carved ham, cut into 2cm chunks(try the deli counter or an independent deli)
salt and pepper to season
The pastry
350g
plain flour, plus extra for dusting
200gbutter
2free-range eggs. (1 beaten with 1 tbsp cold water. Plus 1 free-range egg, beaten, to glaze)
Instructions
The filling
In saucepan with a lid, heat the chicken stock and then add the chicken breasts and bring to a low simmer.Put the lid on and cook for around 10 minutes.Once this is done, remove them to a plate and pour the remaining liquid into a jug.
Cooking the leeks making a sauce for our pie.
Take a large saucepan and melt the butter on a low heat then stir in your leeks and fry until softened (approx 2 mins).Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then add the rest of the butter, melt it and then stir in the flour.Stir constantly for around 30 seconds and then slowly pour the milk in, stirring well so it mixes.
Next, add 250 ml of the reserved stock from your jug and the wine and stir until the sauce is smooth and thickened a little.Bring to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes.Season with salt and pepper.
Now, take off the heat and stir in the cream. Lastly, pour into a large bowl and cover the surface of the sauce with cling film to prevent a skin forming. Leave to cool.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C.
The pastry
See notes, below, for how to make shortcrust pastry by hand. Here's the food processor version.
Put the flour and butter in a food processor.Blend on pulse setting until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs.Now (food processor still running), add the beaten egg and water mix and blend until the mixture forms a ball.Take off 250g pastry for the lid.
Roll the rest of the pastry out on a lightly floured surface until it's around 5mm thick and 4cm larger than the pie dish. Over the rolling pin, lift the pastry and gently place it into the pie dish. Press the pastry firmly up the sides, getting all the air bubbles out. Leave the excess pastry overhanging the sides.
Assembling the pie
Cut your chicken pieces into 3cm pieces and stir into the cooled sauce wirth your ham chunks.Now, pour all this filling into the pie dish.
Brush the rim of the dish with the beaten egg, then roll the extra 'lid' pastry and cover the pie.Press the edges together firmly to seal and now trim and excess pastry away.
Cut a small hole in the middle of the pie with a knife and glaze the top of the pie with the beaten egg.
Bake in the oven for 35–40 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown all over and the filling is piping hot.