Guilt-free chicken, vegetable and mushroom pie
One of the great things with this recipe is that you have freedom to use up all your left over vegetables. You can put pretty much anything you like in this pie – try to add a rainbow of vegetable colours, not only will it look good and taste great but it will also give you a selection of different nutrients.
(Serves 4)
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts1 medium onion, chopped500ml low salt chicken stock 4 tbsp white wine 1 bay leaf 150g button mushrooms, halved700g mixed vegetables of choice (use anything you have available in your fridge; carrots, cabbage, leeks, peppers, sweetcorn, green beans – or frozen vegetables)2 tsp cornflour 2 tbsp chopped mixed herbs (parsley, thyme, oregano, marjoram) or 1 tsp dried mixed herbs Freshly ground black pepper, to taste 8 sheets filo pastry Olive oil
Tip – don’t unwrap your sheets of filo pastry until you need them so they don’t dry up.
Method
Preheat oven to 200C. Start by frying off the button mushrooms for 2 minutes in a tiny slurp of olive oil, drain and set aside
Now, in a large lidded pan, poach the chicken breasts in the low salt chicken stock, the white wine and bay leaf for 15 for small portions or 20 minutes for larger portions
Meanwhile, prepare the vegetables by peeling, chopping, washing etc. They all need to be bite sized pieces. Add these to the chicken and stock, cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.
Next, remove the bay leaf and place chicken, mushrooms and vegetables into a deep pie dish, leaving behind the juices in the saucepan. In a separate cup, mix the cornflour with milk and add to the stock. Bring this to the boil, stirring continuously until it has thickened.
Add all the herbs and season with pepper. Now pour the sauce over chicken and vegetables
Prepare the pastry crust by scrunching the sheets of filo pastry up separately into loose balls and placing on top of the pie filling. Spread them around so that the entire top is covered. Now brush with a little olive oil and bake for 15-20 until the top is nicely crisp and browned. Serve immediately.
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