Recipe: The ultimate chicken pie
As the nights draw in and winter approaches, there's one silver lining - it’s pie season! To get you started, we've created the recipe for the ultimate chicken, leek and bacon pie - it pairs perfectly with creamy mash potato, some winter greens, and a large glass of either a buttery chardonnay to cut through the richness, or a light pinot noir from Pattingham Vineyards.
Ingredients (serves 6)
- 4 x skinless, boneless chicken breasts
- 150g Beal's Charcuterie pancetta
- 2 x sliced leeks
- 3 x chopped carrots
- 2 x roughly chopped garlic cloves
- 1 x large onion, halved - dice one half, keep the other whole
- Large bunch parsley
- Small bunch tarragon
- 2 x bay leaves
- Peppercorns
- 500ml whole milk
- 50g butter
- 50g flour
- 1 x tbsp English mustard
- A good pinch of Blackthorn sea salt, and freshly ground pepper
- 100g cheddar cheese(optional)
- 375g ready made puff pastry
- 1x egg yolk
Method
- Add the whole half onion, bay leaves, garlic and a handful of whole peppercorns to the milk, and bring to a gentle simmer. Once bubbling away, add your chicken and poach for 12-15 minutes. Remove the chicken, pull apart and put in a large pie dish. Keep the poaching liquid to make your roux.
- For the roux, add the butter to a saucepan on a gentle heat. Once melted, add the flour and combine - it’s important to cook the flour off for a minute or two before you add any liquid. Next, slowly add your poaching milk through a sieve and continually whisk until you have a smooth, glossy bechamel. Add a teaspoon of English Mustard and season to taste - we like to add some rich cheddar at this point.
- Next, fry off your pancetta until crispy, rendering out all of that flavoursome fat. Remove with a slotted spoon when ready, and add to the chicken.
- Using the same pan, fry off your leeks, carrots and remaining onion in plenty of butter until soft and translucent - add a touch of oil to stop the butter from burning.
- Add your bechamel and leek mixture to the chicken and pancetta. Mix thoroughly to combine all of the flavours together.
- Add a big handful of finely chopped, fresh parsley and tarragon. Check seasoning and add salt & pepper to taste.
- Roll out the puff pastry and create a lid for your pie dish. Apply your egg wash to the top and bake at 180 degrees until golden and crispy - around 45 minutes.
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