Chicken Pie
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 105
- Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
- Yield: 4 - 6
- Category: Autumn; easy; Savoury Pies, Pastries & Tarts
Description
Instead of using shredded chicken you can use leftover roast chicken or cooked, cubed chicken.
Ingredients
Pastry
460 g flour
240 g cold butter, cut into cubes or grated
2 Tbsp (30 ml) water
pinch of salt
1 egg, whisked lightly with a fork to use as an egg wash
Sweet Potato Base
2 large sweet potatoes, roasted whole
Chicken
1 whole large chicken
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 celery stalk
1 leek, sliced
2 bay leaves
2 cloves
4 C (1 litre) chicken stock
Sauce
45 g butter
60 g onion, diced
60 g carrot, diced
60 g celery, diced
3 sprigs thyme
1–2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small chilli, sliced
200 g mushrooms, sliced
45 g flour
600 ml chicken stock (can be reserved from cooking the chicken; if using pre-cooked or roasted chicken however, then prepare chicken stock separately)
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Pastry
Sieve the flour and salt into a bowl or onto a tabletop. Make a large well in the centre and grate in the butter. Rub the butter into the flour and then add the water and stir until absorbed. Knead the pastry until smooth and leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before using.
Sweet Potato Base
Preheat the oven to 200 ºC
Place sweet potatoes in the oven and roast whole, unpeeled. Once cooked through, remove and allow to cool. Once cool, peel and slice into thick 3 m slices and lightly press into the pie dish to form a base.
Chicken
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer. Simmer for 1 hour. Remove the chicken when cooked and allow to cool. Continue to cook the stock for another 10 to 15 minutes. Then drain and set aside.
Remove the chicken meat from the bones, shred into small pieces and set aside.
Sauce
Heat the butter in a thick-bottomed saucepan. Sauté the onion, carrot, celery, thyme, garlic and chilli. Add the mushrooms and sauté until cooked.
Dust with flour and add the stock, Stir and continue to cook until the flour has cooked out. Season to taste and allow to cool.
To Make The Pie
Preheat the oven to 200 °C.
Combine the shredded chicken with the sauce. Fill a shallow 25-28 cm ovenproof ceramic dish with the chicken filling.
Roll the pastry out to a rough rectangular shape 2-3 mm thick, ensure that the length is long enough to cross your pie dish from one side to the other. Cut into 2.5 cm wide strips, enough to create a lattice pattern.
If using store bought pastry, allow the pastry to thaw, unroll gently and cut into 2.5 cm strips, on a floured surface.
Cover the filling with a lattice pattern using the strips of pastry. To easily create a lattice pattern, lay out parallel strips of the dough, spaced evenly, across the top of your pie dish and filling. Fold back every alternating strip. Then, place a strip of dough perpendicular to the parallel strips already laid out. Unfold the folded strips and lay over the perpendicular strip. Then, take the strips that are running underneath the perpendicular strip and fold them back over the perpendicular strip, you will see that you are starting to create a criss-cross pattern, almost as if plaiting the strips. Lay your next perpendicular strip in the same method as you did the first one and repeat. Keep repeating this process until you have a criss-cross lattice pattern. It’s a bit of a brain bender but logical once you’ve got the hang of it.
Brush the pastry with the egg wash.
Bake for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
