Chicken pie is the ultimate comfort food and welcome at any buffet dinner party, family gathering or festive table. It’s versatile and by using your imagination, has endless possibilities for flavor, spiciness, or an international feel. This recipe is my basic traditional one which I have experimented with and developed and still find the most reliable and loved by everyone. Try this with leftover Thyme smoked chicken or cook from scratch. The real secret for me is to use free range chicken and homemade chicken stock, and nothing else but homemade shortcrust pastry (the easiest pastry in the world) and puff pastry (a little trickier and lots of hard work but worth it). If you use leftover chicken, sauté and cook the spices and herbs with the chopped vegetables in the chicken stock and then add to the chicken.
Deconstructed Chicken and mushroom pie
Traditional Chicken and mushroom pie
Serves 6
The chicken pie from scratch:
1 medium size free range chicken, cut into pieces (see how the Chinese do it)
3 cups/720 ml chicken stock, heated
½ cup/120 ml white wine
1 teaspoon/5 ml coriander seeds
½ teaspoon/3 ml whole cloves
3 tablespoons/45 ml olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 carrots, peeled and finely chopped
1 celery stalks, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons/15 ml tarragon leaves
shortcrust pastry
puff pastry
The sauce:
3 cups/720 ml Béchamel sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 shallot, finely sliced
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 cup mixed fresh mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon tomato puree
½ cup chicken stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Start with the spices: dry fry the coriander and cloves until aromatic, cool and crush in a pestle and mortar. Put aside.
- Heat half of the olive oil and gently sauté the onion, garlic, carrots and celery until soft. Remove from the saucepan and set aside.
- Heat the rest of the olive oil and fry the chicken until the skin is golden brown. Add the spices and vegetables and stir through.
- Add the wine and let it cook down until the pan is almost dry, then add the heated stock. Season well with salt and freshly grated black pepper.
- Cover the saucepan and bring to the boil, then turn down the heat to medium and cook for about 45 minutes.
- Check regularly that it does not cook dry. If so, add a little boiling water; the chicken must be juicy with enough of it’s own sauce.
For the sauce:
- Meanwhile make the Béchamel sauce and cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.
- Heat the butter and olive and gently fry the shallot and garlic until pale golden.
- Add the mushrooms and cook until they are tender, then stir in the mustard. Mix well and next add the Béchamel sauce a spoon full at a time while mixing well into the mushrooms.
- When the chicken is cooked, set aside and let it cool until comfortable to start removing the bones.
- Strain any liquid left in the saucepan and add the strained juice to the mushroom sauce. Tip the strained bits in the strainer back in with the chicken.
To finish the pie:
- Meanwhile, grease a suitable dish for the pie and preheat the oven to 190º C/375º F.
- Roll out the shortcrust pastry to line the insides of the dish with a little excess so that the pastry stands slightly above the edge of the dish.
- This will ensure a good depth to the sides of the pie if the pastry shrinks slightly during cooking.
- Line the dish on top of the pastry with parchment paper and fill with ceramic baking beans.
- Bake the tart for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 10 minutes, until pale golden in color and the base feels sandy to the touch. Let it cool totally.
- Meanwhile, chop the chicken pieces to even sizes suitable for the pie then mix it in with the prepared sauce.
- Let pie filling cool completely before pouring it into the baked pastry.
If the filling is too hot, the bottom crust won’t bake properly and you’ll end up with a soggy pale pastry on the bottom. Not nice!
Finishing the pie:
- Reduce the heat of the oven to 180º C /355º F.
- Pour the chicken into the baked pie crust, roll out the puff pastry to fit snug over the filling “glueing” it to the baked pastry edge with the egg wash.
- Press the two layers of the pastry together with the twines of a fork to seal them firmly, then liberally brush the top of the puff pastry with the egg wash and pierce small holes (with a toothpick) in a little pattern in the pastry to let some air escape whilst baking.
- Bake for about 30 minutes until the pastry has a nice golden glaze.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for at least half an hour before dishing up.