Celebrate British Pie Week with this classic!
Ingredients
6 six chicken thighs (diced)
1 brown onion
1 celery stick
Sea-Salt
Black pepper
Olive oil
1 egg (beaten)
25g butter
4 rasher bacon (diced)
2 leeks (finely chopped)
2 tablespoons plain flour
4 tablespoons creme fraiche
1 lemon (juiced)
250g sheet puff pastry
400ml chicken stock
Method
Step 1
Dice your chicken thighs and fry in a frypan until nice and golden, but not cooked all the way through. About 3-4 minutes should do it. Step 2
Heat the butter and oil in a large frying pan and fry the diced bacon until crisp. Add the chopped leeks and cook for 2 minutes until softened. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Pour in the chicken stock a third at a time, stirring continuously and making sure the sauce is thick and smooth before adding the next batch.
Stir in the mustard, crème fraîche and parsley, then add a squeeze of lemon juice and black pepper to taste. Add salt if needed. Spoon over the chicken and leave to cool.
Step 3
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7/fan 200C. Reserve a quarter of the pastry for decoration and roll out the remainder to a shape about 5cm/2in larger than the top of the pie dish, then cut a 2.5cm/1in strip from all round the edge.
Brush the edge of the dish with water and stick the pastry strip to it. Brush the strip with water. Flip the pastry lid over the rolling pin, lift it up and unroll over the pie. Press the edge on to the pastry strip to seal, and trim any excess with a sharp knife.
Step 4
Make a hole in the lid centre with the tip of the knife, to allow steam to escape as the pie bakes.
Step 5
Brush with egg and bake in the oven for 30 - 40 minutes or until nice and golden.