Chicken and mushroom pie
June 13, 2020
: 6
: 30 min
: 30 min
: Easy
This is our favourite chicken and mushroom pie recipe. The comforting classic is perfect for weeknights or weekends. The chicken thigh stays succulent, while the gravy has a lovely velvety viscosity. You could serve it with salad, but we enjoy it with a good dollop of quality tomato sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 500g organic chicken thigh, cut into 1-inch pieces
- 200g smoked bacon lardons
- 3 shallots, finely chopped
- 1 small fennel, finely chopped
- 2 leeks, finely chopped
- 250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 20g thyme sprigs (tied together)
- 2 tablespoons plain flour
- 400ml fresh vegetable stock (or chicken)
- 200ml single cream (or milk)
- 2 packets puff pastry (we used Jus-Rol)
- 1 beaten egg (to glaze)
Directions
- Step 1 Heat the oil in a large non-stick pan on medium-high heat. Add the chicken and season. Cook for a few minutes, or until lightly seared on all sides. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside.
- Step 2 Add the bacon lardons to the pan and cook (about 5 minutes).
- Step 3 Add the shallots, fennel, leek, mushrooms and thyme to the pan. Turn the heat down to medium and cook until translucent.
- Step 4 Add the flour and stir it in for about 30 seconds. Add back the chicken, stock and cream. Leave to simmer for about 30 minutes, or until the liquid reduces by half and thickens. Set aside to cool slightly and remove the thyme bundle.
- Step 5 Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius fan force.
- Step 6 Carefully unroll one sheet of puff pastry and line a pie dish (about 22cm diameter, with a removable base). Leave 1 cm of overhang, and trim the excess with a knife.
- Step 7 Carefully unroll the second sheet of puff pastry and use a sharp knife to cut tessellating leaf shapes and lightly score the stem lines.
- Step 8 To assemble, evenly spread the chicken filling into the pie dish. Cover with the pastry leaves, arranging them to make a canopy. Glaze with the beaten egg.
- Step 9 Bake for 30 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed and is a deep golden brown. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.
“No one would live past years again,
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remains,
And from the dregs of life think to receive
What the first spritely running could not give….”
John Dryden
While you are waiting for the pie to cook, reflect on Dryden’s passage on ageing. What joys have you experienced in maturity that youth was unable to offer?
