Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 100g plain wholemeal flour
- 300g plain flour
- 100g butter
- 100g lard
- 2 tbsp of milk
For the filling:
- 1 tbsp of rapeseed oil
- 250ml crème fraiche
- 250ml double cream
- 100g strong cheddar cheese, coarsely grated
- 3 eggs
- Salt and ground black pepper to season
- 1 chicken breast, roasted or poached or cooked chicken, shredded
Recipe courtesy of Miranda Gore Browne.
Miranda is a food writer, home-baking expert, director of The Kitchen School and passionate foodie. She was also a finalist on the first series of The Great British Bake Off. Miranda has written two books, Biscuit and Bake Me a Cake as Fast as You Can, both published by Ebury Press.
Use a peeler to make fine slithers or cut to a similar thickness any combination of the ingredients listed:
● Spring onions
● Peas
● Asparagus
● Broad beans
● Spinach
● Mange tout
● Courgette
● Fresh mint, finely chopped
Method
- Make the pastry, (or you can use a good shop-bought pastry instead). Put all the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and lard and rub into the flour, add the milk and mix in with a knife.
- Bring together with your hands and knead a little. Squash into a flat disc and pop into the fridge to rest for about an hour.
- Roll out the pastry to approx. 3mm thick (this is easiest between two pieces of non-stick baking paper) then carefully lift it into your pie tin or flan dish. If it is a bit crumbly, cut into slices and use your fingers to press the pastry into the base of the tin.
- Blind bake. The easiest way to do this is to freeze the pastry case and then immediately blind bake from frozen. Or line with baking paper and fill with baking beans or dried rice or lentils. Pop into an oven preheated to 200 degrees and bake the pastry case for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Lift onto a low-sided baking tray before adding the filling – this will catch any spills or overflow.
- For the filling, in a large jug, mix the crème fraiche, cream and the eggs, season with sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
- Put a little rapeseed oil into a hot frying pan and fry the vegetables for a few minutes until they are starting to colour and soften.
- Shred the chicken. Put half of the grated cheese into the base of the pastry case, add a thick layer of the chicken and then pile all the vegetables on top.
- Pour over the cream mixture and finally sprinkle over the last of the cheese.
- Bake in a hot oven (180 degrees) for about 25-30 minutes or until it’s golden on top.