Lazy Sunday Chicken Pie

Cooking time: 1h45

Oven Temperature: 180°C

Serving Size: 4-6 people

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INGREDIENTS

Chicken mixture

• 6-8 boneless chicken thighs (or 3-4 chicken breasts)

• 6 rashers of unsmoked back bacon

• 30g chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves

• 1 tsp horseradish sauce (or Dijon mustard)

• 3 bay leaves

• 200-300g mushrooms (sliced)

• 5 Tbsp plain flour

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1 red onion

• 1 egg (beaten)

Rough-Puff Pastry

• 175g plain flour

• 100g butter

• Approx 9 Tbsp cold water

METHOD

Rough-Puff Pastry

1. To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and cut the chilled butter into 1cm cubes and mix into the flour with a spoon (keep them square, there should be whole blocks of butter in the flour).

2. Add the water until the mixture turns in to a soft (but not sticky) dough.

3. Form a ball with the dough and place on a well floured board. Roll the dough out into a rectangle. Make sure that the butter does not stick to the rolling pin by flouring the dough well.

4. Once in a rectangle, dust off any excess flour, fold the lower third of the pastry up over the middle third and then the top third down over the stacked bottom and middle third. Turn the folded pastry 90 degrees to the right, seal the pastry (lightly press down the rolling pin on the edges of the pastry envelope) and repeat the folding process 3 more times.

5. After the final fold, wrap the pastry in cling film and place in the fridge until needed for the pie, it should rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge.

Chicken Pie

1. Dice the onions into 1cm cubes. Add 2 Tbsps neutral oil (e.g. rapeseed oil/vegetable oil/light olive oil) to a large saucepan and sweat the onions until they are soft and translucent.

2. Slice the mushrooms in half, then chop them into slices parallel to the stem so that the slices look like the letter 'P'. Add them to the saucepan with the onions and cook the mushrooms for approx. 5 minutes.

3. Add the bacon and bay leaves to the pan and cook for 3 minutes or until the bacon is just cooked.

4. Add the diced chicken to the pan and cook until all the chicken turns white, then add the parsley and sage.

5. Sprinkle the flour over the cooked ingredients and stir until it is well combined with the ingredients. (It will look almost like a breaded coating.) Cook the flour out for about 2 minutes.

6. Gradually add the milk to the chicken mixture and stir continuously. A thick sauce should begin to form. Add the horseradish sauce and simmer the chicken in the sauce for 3 minutes or until it thickens slightly.

7. Add the chicken filling to an oven proof dish (approx. 25cmx15cm).

8. Roll the pastry out to about 5mm thick, cut the pastry to 1.5cm bigger than the oven proof dish that you are using and lay it on top of the chicken filling. Make sure to cut a cross (+) in the pastry to allow the steam from the filling to be released in the oven so that the pastry is crisp, not soggy.

9. Beat the egg (I usually do this in a mug with a fork) and brush the egg-wash onto the pastry to achieve that rich, golden colour.

10. Bake the pie in the oven at 180°C for 30-35 minutes or until the pastry is golden.