I have been looking for a cool Chicken Pie recipe for a longlong time. I tried a traditional recipe of my Sister-In-Law’s which had bacon and sago and the whole bang shoot. But this recipe took absolutely forever and I hate deboning chicken, so I found this recipe on Food24 which I have tweaked to my (almost) satisfaction.
I don’t use whole chicken, I prefer to buy packs of chicken breasts as they are mostly meat, very little bone and easy to debone. And a lot less skin.
• 2 or 3 Packs of chicken breasts (about 1.4 – 2 kg), depending on how big a pie you want to make.
• 2 packs of chopped or shredded mushrooms (500g)
• 250ml cream
• 1 pack cream of mushroom soup
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 tbsp ground coriander
• 50ml lemon juice (or as much as you like!)
• 3 all-spice and/or 3 whole aniseed pods (the aniseed can get a little much so if you don’t like it rather leave out)
• 1 roll of store bought puff pastry
• 250g chopped bacon (optional)
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
Heat some oil in a heavy-bottomed pot and add the cloves and coriander. Brown the chicken pieces in the oil. Put all the chicken pieces back in the pot and add enough water so that the chicken is almost covered. Add the star anise/all spice, lemon juice and bacon if you decide to add and bring to the boil.
Boil for a longlonglonglong time. About as long as a proper afternoon nap (90 minutes to 2 hours) until the chicken is really soft. Take out the chicken pieces and chop up, with or without the skin, depending on what your preference is. In the same bowl and add the mushrooms. If you don’t mind using the soup, add to the cream, stir and add to chicken and mushroom mix. Then spoon into flat-ish dish you want to use in the oven.
Roll out the pastry and cover the meat. Brush with egg and bake in the oven until the pastry is brown, about 30-40 minutes.
Enjoy!
Ps: those chicken bones and left-over water: add whatever you have in the fridge such as celery, carrots and peppers and boil again. Drain and freeze for chicken stock.
