Cooking with cont1204

**cont1204** · 9th August 2011, 20:17

Evening folks.

Being rather bored and not in work on the farm today I decided to attack the kitchen to see what I could knock up. I was in the mood for something rib sticking so decided on a chunky chicken pie. I always thought if I made something decent I'd bang it on the internet for others to use if they wanted to.

Tonight I'm cooking chicken pie with carrot, swede and peas.

Off to the shops I went for the following (enough to serve 4 fat b******s or 6 normal people):

4 chicken breasts.
600ml double cream.
1 bottle of white wine - any will do.
Small pot of honey.
Normal flour.
Salt, pepper and mixed herbs.
3 carrots.
Bag of frozen peas.
Swede.
Ready-roll pastry if you can't be arsed making it yourself (like me).
2 large potatoes.
2 large leeks.
Olive oil.
Fresh mint.
1 onion - chopped.
150gm pack of button mushrooms.
1 egg.

I must stress that I don't measure anything, I just bang it together and hope for the best so results will vary.

Step 1.

Get a wok on the go with a decent glug of olive oil. Slice the chicken breasts into good sized chunks and toss into the pan with some salt and pepper. Start to cook it over a medium heat and add in a tablespoon of honey.

Step 2.

Transfer the chicken to another bowl and set aside once it's had a good few minutes of cooking and has taken on a golden colour from the honey. In the same wok, throw in the chopped onion and give it a whiz around. Give it a few minutes with the heat quite high to make sure it is nicely browned but not too well done. Don't want any added carbon.

Step 3.

Add the cream to the onions and stir. It'll slowly start to take on a golden colour from the onions. Now it's time for the mushrooms. Cut all of them in half and throw straight into the cream and onion mix. Heat it back up to simmering point and add a couple of glasses of white wine. Stir and have a taste - see if it needs any more. In a frying pan, add a little oil, salt and pepper and heat up. Chop up the leeks into about 1cm wide chunks and throw into the pan. Fry them off on a high heat to get a slight charcoal taste to them.

Step 4.

Add the chicken to the pan and simmer gently for about 15 minutes. Once the source has reduced a bit, add flour half a tablespoon at a time in order to thicken the source to a paste like substance. Remove the leeks from the heat and set aside to cool. Turn off the filling once it's thick enough. If you put too much flour in don't worry just add some more wine or a little cream/water to thin it down a bit. Turn off the heat for both pans and allow them to cool. Transfer the leeks to another dish.

Step 5. (Only continue here an hour before you plan to eat.)

Chop the two potatoes in half and cut the bottom of each half so it will sit without falling over. On the side where you'll be removing the filling, score a crosshatch pattern into the potato and start to scoop it out with a spoon. Keep it quite thin all the way around. Return the filling to the pan and gently heat it so it isn't hot but quite warm. Preheat the oven to gas mark 6.

Step 6.

Once your potatoes are done it's time to fill the pie dish. Roll out the pastry so it's about as thick as 2 £1 coins on top of each other, go over it with an egg wash made from the beaten egg and push it into the pie dish making sure to get it right into the corners. Fork it all the way round in random places to stop steam building up. Place the leeks on the bottom.

Step 7.

Fill the pie dish up with the warm/semi-hot filling from before and trim the edges so there's a slight lip of pastry sticking over the rim of the bowl.

Step 8.

Time to put the lid on. Roll out the other sheet of pastry to the same thickness and lay over the top. Push it down around the edges so it sticks well to the other layer. Give it another trim and fork it well all over to stop steam buildup. I also put the knife in the middle and twisted it over to rip open the top slightly. Give it a good brushing with egg wash.

Step 9.

The pie takes 45 minutes or so to cook but we're only really heating it through from before. If we had put the hot filling in straight away we would cook the pastry on the bottom and sides but not the top so when we put it in the oven, it would have burnt and dried out. After it has been in for 10 minutes or so, it's time to sort the potatoes. Rub them in olive oil, salt, pepper and mixed herbs. These take 25 minutes or so. Chop the carrot and swede up and boil until soft. No pictures here but I'm sure you know what carrot and swede looks like. Put the peas in to simmer for 5 minutes before the end with a couple of mint leaves.

Step 10.

Crush the peas slightly and mash the carrot and swede and leave in their pans. Remove the potato from the oven and place onto the plates. Fill one with carrot and swede and put the slightly crushed peas in the other. Chuck a mint leaf on there with the peas. Get a slab of pie on there and serve with the left over wine.

Enjoy!

Comments welcome if you try it out.