Chicken, Leek and Ham Pie

Difficulty

Medium

Cooking/prep time:

45 minutes preparation; 1hr cooking

Serves:

8

Ingredients:

For the hot crust pastry

·         750g plain flour

·         1 tsp salt

·         2 eggs, lightly beaten

·         125g butter

·         125g lard

·         250ml water

·         2 egg yolks with a pinch of salt for brushing

For the filling

·         1 whole chicken poached or roasted

·         2 leeks

·         200g shredded ham hock (either cooked or from a packet)

·         800mls chicken stock

·         200mls milk

·         60g butter

·         60g flour

·         50ml double cream

·         2 tsps English mustard

·         1 tbsp chopped parsley

Method

For the filling

·         Strip the chicken into bite size pieces (set aside)

·         Chop the leeks and wash in a cold water (set aside)

·         In a pan, cook the sliced leeks in a little butter until soft and then set aside

·         In the same pan, then melt the butter and flour to make a roux

·         Mix the milk and stock together and add gradually to roux, add the cream and stir all the time until it thickens to a sauce the consistency thick enough to coat the back of a spoon

·         Now add the cooked chicken, cooked leeks and ham hock

·         Season generously with salt and pepper and add 2 tsps of English mustard. Add the chopped parsley.

·         Leave the filling to cool completely before filling the pie (this can be made the day ahead)

For the pastry

·         In a food processor, add the flour and salt and mix in the 2 whole eggs. Blitz until eggs are fully incorporated and texture is very fine crumbs

·         In a pan add the lard, butter and water and melt until all dissolved

·         Now turn the food processor back on and pour the liquid into the flour mixture until you get a firm but pliable consistency – you might not need all of the mixture.

·         Tip out onto a floured surface and split into a piece that is roughly 2/3 and one that is roughly 1/3

·         Take a 23cm springform tin and roll out the 2/3 part of the pastry until it is about the thickness of around 5mm and line the tin, leaving some pastry overhanging

·         Now roll out the lid part into a circle that will be larger than the size of your dish

·         Take the 2 egg yolks and mix with the salt. Use a pastry brush to create a sticky seal around the top of the pie to attach the lid

·         Now use your chicken mixture to fill the pie as full as possible.

·         Lay the pastry lid on top and crimp the top using your fingers or a fork

·         Make a small hole in the middle of the pie to let out any steam

·         Paint the top with the egg wash until it is a lovely golden colour.

·         You can now use any excess pastry cuttings to make some decoration for the top – I did some simple leaves, but anything goes! Brush the decoration with any leftover egg wash

·         Place the pie in the fridge for half an hour to firm up and in the meantime heat your oven to 200C/190C fan oven

·         Cook the pie for around 50mins to an hour – test that the filling is warm by sticking in a skewer to test

To serve

I served it with some mashed potato, glazed carrots, peas and chicken gravy for a special Sunday lunch, but again this is totally up to you.