Chicken, leek and mushroom pies

 

My best friend and I had a cooking day this week.  We made very moorish chicken pies.  I was going to make the pastry but we had to squeeze in Evangeline's last maternal nurse appointment.  So Aldi it was for the shortcrust and puff pastry.  Perfect!!!



Now as all my friends know, I don't follow recipes or measure ingredients..It's old style taste testing in my household.  In the recipe below I'll put approximates.

Recipe - Yields 12 muffin sized pies plus approx 24 little envelope shaped pies.

1.5 kilos thigh chicken fillets diced finely
1 packet Aldi puff pastry
1 packet Aldi shortcrust pastry
100gr finely chopped speck (or bacon)
100gr mushrooms chopped
1-2 tbs mustard
1 tbs chicken stock powder
1/2 cup pouring cream
1-3 sprigs of thyme
2-3 tbs flour
2 medium leeks (I used 6 small homegrown leeks, I also used the green parts)
salt pepper

Saute speck to render fat and then add the leek until soft.  Remove from from the pan and put aside.  In the saucepan add a little olive oil and fry the chicken fillets. When cooked (no pink visible) add the leek mixture.  The chicken released a lot of it's own juices at this stage.  Add the mushrooms, stir until soft.  Then add the mustard, thyme, pepper, chicken stock powder. Taste and season with salt if required.  Add the flour and stir through for a few minutes. (depending on how much liquid is released add some water)  Add the cream and simmer for a further few minutes.  The mixture should have a thick gravy like consistency.  Taste again and adjust seasonings and allow to cool. Cooking time will be about 20 minutes.

With a cookie cutter or glass cut round shapes of the shortcrust pastry and place in oiled muffin cases.  Add the cooled filling to the pastry and top with a cut round of puff pastry.  Carefully pull the shortcrust pastry onto the puff pastry and create a seal by twisting the edges together. (look at photo as really hard to explain)  Bake in moderate to hot oven for about 20-25 minutes.  You will know they are ready when golden brown.

Mixture cooling down...

In the oven they go

They were bloody delicious if I do say so myself!!

Enjoy

Carol xxx