Chicken and vegetable pie

Serves:

Ingredients

• half teaspoon butter for buttering dish, plus 1 tablespoon more for leeks
• 2 sheets frozen shortcrust pastry, thawed
• 2 carrots, peeled, chopped into cubes same size as chicken
• 1 brushed potato, washed, chopped into cubes same size as chicken
• 1 cup green beans, tails removed, chopped into thirds
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 500g chicken breast, sliced into 2cm cubes
• 1 clove of garlic, finely sliced
• 1 leek, (white part) finely sliced
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon plain flour
• 1 cup reduced-salt chicken stock
• 75 ml pure cream
• pepper to taste
• half a cup milk, for brushing

Method

Preheat oven to 180C. Butter a medium pie or lasagne dish. Place one sheet of pastry into the dish, cutting off the excess. Line with baking paper and fill with pie weights, dried beans or rice then bake for 10 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights and then bake a further 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

Bring a medium saucepan filled with water and half teaspoon salt to the boil. Add potatoes and carrots together and cook for about 15 minutes or until they start to become tender.

Place the green beans into the saucepan and drain all the veggies after about 3 minutes. Rinse under cold water until they are no longer hot.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil and fry chicken pieces on a medium to high heat until browned and partially cooked. Remove and set aside.

Lower heat to low to medium, and melt 1 tablespoon of butter in the pan. Add garlic, leeks, and celery to the pan and sautÌ© for about 3 minutes until softened – be careful not to brown the garlic. Stir in flour and then whisk in stock and cream.

Allow to simmer for about 8 minutes until the mixture has thickened slightly. Add pepper to taste and return chicken to the same pan stirring everything together.

Place vegetables and chicken mixture into the pastry-lined dish and cover with the second pastry sheet, removing the excess. Press the edges down around the pie with a fork and make a slit in the center to release steam. Brush with milk and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Allow to rest for at least ten minutes before serving.

Notes:

• I like shortcrust pastry all on top and bottom, but if you would like a flakier pie, try using shortcrust on the bottom and puff pastry on top. Then brush with one egg white instead of milk. Puff pastry is not tough enough to be used on the bottom of the pie.
• My husband HATES when he gets served a pies that comes without pastry on the bottom. If you‰ are not such a pastry fan, leave the pastry bottom out and just top with a pastry sheet. This produces a faster pie too!
• You can always substitute onions for leeks, but they have a much stronger flavour.
• My mum used to make little pies (or ‰pot-pies‰ as we called them) and then froze them before she cooked them so she could take them out and bake them for me when I got home from school as a snack. I used to eat a lot!
• This recipe was created by Kristine Duran-Thiessen for Kidspot, New Zealand‰s best recipe finder.

Serving Suggestions

Note