I like making pies, but find I tend to make quite samey recipes - chicken, vegetables and a sauce. I have wanted to do something a bit different for ages and finally found a recipe that caught my eye, thanks to The Fabulous Baker Brothers. Their recipe for a chicken and leek pie is why I ended up with a leek in my kitchen.
I only made a few changes to their recipe, mostly because the recipe was for six people and I was making it for two, and it used wine which I switched to stock.
The most significant change was how the pastry was made. The Baker Brothers used beef dripping and butter, which just sounds indulgent to me. So I just made a normal pastry using 115g of flour, 55g of butter. Rub them together until it looks like breadcrumbs. Then add 4-5 tablespoons of water to bring the pastry together. Whilst you are doing the rest of the pie keep the pastry wrapped up in cling film in the fridge.
Next it was time to tackle the middle class leek. The recipe says to shred it and I had no idea how to do this. So I answered my question by asking Google and came across this helpful video. Essentially you cut the top and the bottom off the leek. Then cut it in half along the middle and then slice it up. To cook, put a knob of butter in a frying pan and add the shredded leek. To season add a little salt, pepper and herbs and leave to cook on the hob until soft. Once soft then add in about half a pint of stock, and wait until it has boiled off.
Dice the chicken, and when the leeks are soft remove them from the frying pan and put them somewhere else for the meantime. Then cook the chicken in the frying pan.
Once cooked put the leeks back into the frying pan with the chicken. Then to make it creamy add in about 4-5 tablespoons of creme fraiche and mix it all together.
Take this off the heat and put it into an oven proof pie dish. Then get the pastry out of the fridge and roll out to make a top for the pie.
Put the pie in the oven at gas mark 6 for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry looks cooked.
So far this pie is the best pie I have made, so do recommend that you try it out.
Next it was time to tackle the middle class leek. The recipe says to shred it and I had no idea how to do this. So I answered my question by asking Google and came across this helpful video. Essentially you cut the top and the bottom off the leek. Then cut it in half along the middle and then slice it up. To cook, put a knob of butter in a frying pan and add the shredded leek. To season add a little salt, pepper and herbs and leave to cook on the hob until soft. Once soft then add in about half a pint of stock, and wait until it has boiled off.
Dice the chicken, and when the leeks are soft remove them from the frying pan and put them somewhere else for the meantime. Then cook the chicken in the frying pan.
Once cooked put the leeks back into the frying pan with the chicken. Then to make it creamy add in about 4-5 tablespoons of creme fraiche and mix it all together.
Take this off the heat and put it into an oven proof pie dish. Then get the pastry out of the fridge and roll out to make a top for the pie.
Put the pie in the oven at gas mark 6 for about 30 minutes, or until the pastry looks cooked.
So far this pie is the best pie I have made, so do recommend that you try it out.
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