Simple Chicken Pie

This is a firm family favourite in the Brown household! You can add veggies into the pie, but we prefer veg on the side so this recipe’s without.

Ingredients: (for 3 large/4 smaller portions)

• 4 Chicken Breasts (or 8 mini fillet, or 350-400g chicken to cover a layer of your dish)
• Gravy Granules
• 6oz/150g Plain flour
• 3oz/75g Margarine or Butter
• water and milk

 

Instructions:

• Rub fat into the flour with fingers or cut in with a knife until the mix looks like breadcrumbs
• add water a tablespoon at a time and form the dough with hands, chill for 30 mins to make it easier to roll (if you have time and your pie isn’t as last-minute as mine was on Sunday!)
• Place chicken into a pie tin or ovenproof dish and cook at 180C/Gas Mark 4 for approx 20 minutes… large pieces of meat take a little longer…until white all the way through (not pink)
• Remove chicken from oven and chop or tear into bite-size chunks
• Make gravy as per instructions and pour into dish so it just covers the layer of chicken pieces

• Roll the pastry on a floured surface (or use hands to press pastry for the ‘rustic’ look….again, this was me last Sunday!)
• Place pastry over filling and add a few steam holes with a knife or fork (because soggy pastry is gross) and brush pastry with milk
• Return to oven (top shelf) until pastry is golden brown/ approx 20 mins.

 

Easy and tasty with peas and potatoes (in any form, but we tend to have roasties with ours)…Enjoy!

 

Tips/Notes: 

• PLEASE BE CAREFUL when handling raw chicken: wash hands before and after and wash any surfaces/utensils straight away and please don’t use the raw meat knife to cut cooked chicken…pie does not taste nice with salmonella and other nasties!

 

• Check chicken is done all the way through by piercing the thickest part and pressing down with side of knife to make sure juices are clear and inner meat is white.
• OK, a nicer tip is that this can be made even easier as the pastry can be made and frozen up to a month in advance or you can buy ready-made shortcrust pastry. You can also use ready cooked (skinless) chicken (leftovers from roast perhaps)
•  Pastry is formed correctly when holds together and sides of bowl are clean (used bits up but not too wet to be sticky)….margarine needs less water than butter so that’s why I said add water a bit at a time and mix as you go.
• Variations are wild on this one: you can use wholemeal flour for healthier pastry, add vegetables or change the gravy for a white sauce… the pastry can be used for any filling!

 

Let me know if you try this or have a filling suggestion…Bon Appetit!

 

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