Everyday Cooking - Chicken, Leek and Mushroom pie
March 2012
 Everyday Cooking is a feature of laterlife.com run by Rosemary Martin.
Covering topics such as bread making, meals for one, nutritional meals, healthy eating, freezer cooking, seasonal cooking, microwave cooking, bulk cooking, preserves etc., Useful for older people and those on a limited budget, or single householders…
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March 2012
Chicken, Leek and Mushroom pie
This classic chicken, leek and mushroom pie, using either a light shortcrust pastry or topped with a light flaky pastry, is surely the ultimate in comfort food. We tend to use this recipe with shredded leftover chicken, but use fresh cooked chicken if you prefer.
Ingredients
1 medium leek, sliced
50g/20z button mushrooms
10g/ ½oz butter
400g/14oz cooked chicken, shredded
12oz shortcrust or 225g/8oz puff or flaky pastry (ready-made is fine)
1 egg, beaten
For the white sauce
25g/1oz butter/margarine
25g/1oz flour
300ml/ ½ pt. milk
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7.
Wipe the mushrooms and cut into slices. Sauté the leeks in the 10g / ½ oz butter for 2-3 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook for a further 2-3 minutes and set aside.
For the sauce, melt the 25g/1oz butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add the flour and cook slowly over a low heat until the mixture is straw-coloured. Pour in the milk gradually and continue to stir with a whisk until all the milk has been used and the sauce thickens and is free of lumps. Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Turn off the heat, add the chicken, leeks and mushrooms to the sauce and stir until all the ingredients are well coated.
If using shortcrust pastry then line your deep fill pie plate with pastry, fill generously with the chicken mixture and cover with a pastry lid, sealing the edges well. Decorate if required with pastry trimmings, coat well in egg wash and cut two holes in the pastry to allow steam to escape.
If using puff or flaky pastry then butter an ovenproof dish large enough to hold the chicken pie mixture with room to spare. Add the chicken mixture to the dish. Roll out the pastry on a floured work surface, to a thickness of about 0.25in/1cm. Place the pastry over the filling and carefully trim the edges. Use the trimmings to make cut-out shapes to decorate the surface of the pie if you wish. Cut two steam holes as above and brush the pastry with the beaten egg.
Bake the pie in the preheated oven for about 25-35 minutes. The top should be nicely browned and the filling piping hot. Remove, allow to cool slightly and serve with creamy mashed potato and your choice of green veg.
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