John Torode's perfect chicken pie
Wondering how to use up leftovers? John Torode has come up with this fabulous chicken pie recipe. Perfect for using up leftovers from the family roast, this meal feeds eight people.
Ingredients
1 large chicken, about 1.5kg (or use 500g leftover roast chicken torn into thumb sized pieces) 2 bay leaves1 large onion, chopped1 garlic clove, chopped1 chicken stock cube1 litre milk, plus extra for brushing2 leeks, diced300g button mushrooms50g butter50g plain flour200ml double creamhandful of flat-leaf parsley, chopped500g all-butterpuff pastry (I like the blocks you can roll out)Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Start by pre-heating the oven to 200c/ gas 6.
Method
Drop the chicken into a really large pan with the bay leaves, onion, garlic and stock cube and season. Add 500ml of the milk and then top up with water to cover the chicken. Bring to the boil and then slowly simmer for 30 minutes.
Remove the chicken and leave to cool breast side down on a plate. Strain the cooking liquid, keeping back 500ml. Throw away the rest. Alternatively if you are using leftover roast chicken simply use 500ml plain chicken stock.
Mean while in a large sauté pan, cook the leeks and mushrooms in the butter over a medium heat with 50ml of water until soft. Add the flour and stir to make a paste (roux), then slowly add the remaining 500ml of milk and there served cooking liquid, stirring all the time to make the sauce. Bring to the boil and the sauce will thicken to a sticky, custardy consistency, then stir in the cream.
Peel the skin off the chicken and throw it away (it’s not nice in a pie). Strip the chicken carcass of all its meat and tear it into thumb-sized pieces.
To assemble the pie: Drop the chicken into the leek and the mushroom sauce, add the parsley, season and stir it all together. Spoon the pie filling into a lasagne dish and leave the mixture to cool a little.
On a lightly floured worktop, roll out the pastry until it’s the size of the top of a dish. Lift up the pastry using the rolling pin and cover the dish. Brush with the milk and stab the middle of the pie a few times to make holes to let the air out.
Put the pie on a baking sheet and into the oven it goes. Cook for 30-35 minutes until golden and bubbling around the edges.
A pie must be served hot with tomato sauce and be careful, the pie will be really hot.
BOOK: This recipe is from John's book My Kind of Food - recipes I love to cook at home