Chicken and Leek Pie

A chicken and vegetable pie

• CuisineWestern
• CategoryChicken
• CourseMains

Ingredients

• 2 cupsBBQ Chicken, chopped
• 1 cupCarrots, chopped
• 1 cupLeek, sliced
• ½ cupBacon, chopped
• ½ cupPeas
• 2 cupsChicken stock
• 1 tbspPlain flour
• 200 mlCream
• 50 gmsButter
• 2 sheetsShort crust pastry
• 1 sheetPuff pastry
• 1Egg, beaten
•  Ground pepper

Preparation

1. Melt butter in a pan and add chopped bacon. Saute till cooked.
2. Add carrot and celery and saute till soft
3. Add and stir chopped chicken
4. Add most of the chicken stock
5. Make a paste by adding remaining stock gradually to flour and stirring to make a paste and then a liquid.
6. Add flour paste to pan and stir
7. Simmer till cooked


8. Take 4 ramekins and grease with butter
9. Line with short crust pastry to come up to the edge
10. Fill each ramekin with the cooked chicken mixture
11. Cover it with a square of puff pastry and tamp down
12. Make a small cut in the top and brush with beaten egg
13. Bake at 200° for 15 minutes

This dish tastes best with chicken stock made from scratch. Take about 1kg of chicken carcasses (bones with the meat removed) available at most butchers. Add 500gms of chicken necks. Roast in a 200 ° oven for 30 minutes. Put in a stockpot and add enough water to cover it completely. Bring to boil and then set to simmer. Keep simmering for 4 hours or more. Add more water if needed. Cool, spoon out all the bones and then filter using a sieve. Normally, it takes some extra effort to make it clear but for a pie it does not matter.

It helps to blind-bake the base. After lining the ramekin with short crust pastry, poke it with a fork. Line it with baking paper. Add pie weights and bake it in an oven at 200° for 10 minutes. Remove weights and lining and let cool before filling it. This allows the base to cook inside and not get soggy with the filling.