Recipe courtesy of Miranda Gore Browne. Follow her on @mirandagorebrowne on Instagram.
Ingredients
Pastry:
- 640g flour 1/2 tsp of salt
- 150g butter
- 100g lard or vegetable fat
- 1 tsp of sugar
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- About 125ml of cold water
- 1 egg for brushing the pastry
The filling:
- 2 tbsp of rapeseed oil
- 2 tbsp of butter
- 600g chicken thighs and breast meat (skinless, boneless and cut into pieces) or use any leftover roast chicken
- 8 rashers of British smoked streaky bacon
- 2 leeks
- 1 stick of celery finely chopped
- 200g brown mushrooms (small or chopped)
- 100ml white wine
- 200ml chicken stock
- 400g small potatoes
- 100g peas (frozen)
- Fresh thyme Salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp of flour
Method
- For the pastry, sift the flour into a large bowl, add the salt and sugar, then use your fingers to rub the lard and butter into the flour.
- Use a knife to mix in the beaten egg, adding the water a little at a time until the mixture comes together as a soft dough.
- Shape the dough into a flat disc, wrap in clingfilm or non-stick baking paper and put into the fridge to rest for at least an hour.
- For the filling, finely chop the leeks and wash well to remove any grittiness.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the leeks and celery and cook until soft.
- Lift them out of the pan and put to one side in a bowl whilst you fry the bacon and mushrooms, then add them to the bowl with the leeks and celery.
- Toss the chicken in the flour.
- Put the butter into the pan (no need to wash between the different ingredients) and brown the chicken.
- Add the potatoes to the pan and cook for about five minutes.
- Add the wine to deglaze the pan.
- Put the cooked leeks, celery, bacon and mushrooms back into the pan with the chicken.
- Stir everything together, season with salt and pepper, add the peas and the thyme and pour over the chicken stock.
- The mixture should bubble and thicken.
- Simmer for about half an hour on a gentle heat then leave to cool before popping into the fridge to chill for about an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 220 degrees (200 fan) and put a flat, low-sided baking tray in the oven to heat up while the oven comes up to temperature.
- Roll out the pastry between two pieces of non-stick baking paper ready to use for the lid.
- Spoon the cold filling into a 35cm x 25cm pie dish, or equivalent size.
- Brush the dish edges with some beaten egg and carefully press on the lid. Press down the edges onto the pie dish with the tines of a fork and then use some scissors to trim any excess pastry. Pinch the cut edges between your finger and thumb and work all around the pastry to give a frilled finish.
- Decorate the top with pastry offcuts, brush the backs of the cut-out pieces with the beaten egg mixed with a little water then place them on top. Make a hole to let the steam out.
- Brush generously with more beaten egg.
- Carefully lift the pie onto the hot baking tray that is waiting in the hot oven.
- Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes, but keep an eye on it to check the edges don’t burn! Cover with a piece of foil or turn the oven down a little if it is going too dark or burning.