Chicken and mushroom pie
This recipe uses ready made puff pastry. In the 1970’s we struggled to make our way through a fatty collection of pastries working our way from shortcrust, rough puff, flaky to puff. In the 21st century you can buy really delicious buttery puff pastry and I see no point in wasting time making it!!
This recipe uses chicken thighs which I think have more flavour than the breasts and I’ve also chucked in some desiccated coconut to give a modern exotic taste – try it.
Look at the label and the Recipe sheet at the bottom of this page – done from The Nutrition Program.
Serves 4
chic
Ingredients
1 pack of ready rolled all butter puff pastry ( about 320 g but you won’t use it all)
Filling
3 chicken thighs (300 g)
300ml water
1 tbs vegetable oil
1 small onion – about 70 g
100g mushrooms – finely slices
20g plain flour
salt and black pepper
2 spring onions ( 50g) finely sliced
egg for glazing pastry
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200 C.
- Boil the chicken thighs in a saucepan with 300ml water for 20 minutes – put the lid on to prevent loss of liquid. Remove the chicken and cool on a plate.
- Add the oil to a large frying pan, fry the onion then add the mushrooms and stir for 3-4 minutes.
- Remove the bone and skin from the chicken thighs and chop the flesh into bite sized pieces.
- Strain the cooking liquid from the chicken to make about 200 ml.
- Add the chicken pieces to the frying pan and stir in the flour.
- Slowly add the liquid to make a thick sauce. Stir in the coconut if used. Season with salt and pepper.
- Put the chicken in a pie dish and cover with chopped spring onions.
- Roll out the pastry. Put strips of pastry round the edge of the pie dish.
- Wet the top of this pastry with water, using a pastry brush then cut a piece of pastry to size to fit the top of the pie.
- Seal the edges by pressing down with your fingers. Make fork marks round the edges and cut 3 slits in the top to let out steam.
- Brush the pastry top with beaten egg to glaze.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Remove half way through and brush with more egg to improve the pastry colour.
- Serve with green beans, carrots and cauliflower.
Skills – pastry rolling, vegetable chopping, boning chicken, sauce making, seasoning