Chicken and Leek Pie

If you live in a country where people hardly know what “pie” is, except the apple pie from Mc Donalds… finding ready to use puff pastry in next to impossible. With a strong hankering for pie, I’ve resorted to making my own pastry. I like the fluffy layers of puff pastry but can’t be bothered rolling dough around a block of butter all day, so I decided to give rough puff pastry a go for this recipe.

Ingredients:

• pie pastry for a 20cm pie tin (shortcrust/puff/rough puff)
• 500g Chicken, diced (2cm pieces)
• 1 stalk of leek (about 100 – 150g)
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tsp whole seed mustard
• olive oil
• 3 tbsp corn flour
• a few shakes of pepper
• about 2 tbsp minced/finely chopped spring onion
• flour
• 1/2 cup wine
• 1  1/2 cups chicken stock
• 1 cup milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400F.
2. Mix the chicken with the spring onion, garlic, mustard, corn flour, pepper and some olive oil (about 2 tbsp). Leave to marinate.
3. Line the pie tray with pastry and put a sheet of baking paper over it and something to weigh it down (like a handful of beans) .
4. Bake the pie shell in the oven for about 15 minutes. Then take out and leave to cool.
5. In a frying pan, heat up about 1 tbsp of olive oil and saute the leek in it for a few minutes.
6. On medium heat, add the chicken to the leek and stir to ensure the chicken is cooked evenly.
7. Reduce the heat, add 2 tbsp olive oil and 2 tbsp flour and mix well, making sure that all the flour is mixed into the oil/juices.
8. Make a well in the center and pour in the wine, and let it evaporate a little before mixing in with the chicken.
9. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a simmer on high heat, stirring frequently.
10. Stir in the milk, and reduce the heat, maintaining a gentle simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.
11. In a small bowl mix some flour with olive oil to make a paste.
12. Thicken the chicken pie filling with the oil-flour paste.
13. Turn off the heat and let the filling cool down a bit (about 30 minutes)
14. Fill the pie shell with the chicken filling, and cover with a piece of pastry over the top.
15. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until golden brown.