Chicken and Leek Pie

Chicken and Leek Pie

I had the filling for this pie in the freezer so it was quick and simple to make today.  The filling was made by browning some chicken thighs in a pan with a little oil, then adding some chopped leeks and carrots and frying them gently until softened.  I then stirred in a little flour to make a roux and added part milk and part chicken stock.  I simmered it gently until the chicken was cooked through then took the chicken out of the sauce.  I took the skin off the chicken, the meat off the bones and stirred the chicken meat back into the sauce.

Today I made some shortcrust pastry by rubbing 50g butter and 50g lard (actually I used Trex, a vegetarian lard substitue) into 200g plain flour with 1/4 tsp baking powder – adding the baking powder makes the pastry a little lighter and flakier.

 

I then added enough ice cold water to bring the pastry together in a ball.  This then rested in the fridge for about 30 minutes which gives time for the gluten in the flour to react with the water and become more elastic.

 

After resting the pastry was rolled out (very thin in this case as I’m trying to loose weight and lots of pastry doesn’t help!) into two discs – one for the base of the pie and one for the top.

 

One piece of pastry was used to line the pie dish and the cold filling was spooned on top.

The second piece of pastry was then used to make the lid – the two layers were stuck together by brushing some egg around the edge of the base layer.  The edges were crimped and the top brushed with a little beaten egg to give the pie a shiny golden crust.

 

The pie was popular with all of us and we ate the whole thing with some peas!