Roast Chicken and leek pie

Now chicken pie is about as classic a dish as you can get. But for real flavour you really need to roast of the chicken first and use the bones and skin to make the stock. It might seem like a lot of work but I can assure you that it is worth all the effort in the end.

2 whole chickens

1.2lt/2pt water

500g/1lb shortcrust pastry

60g/3oz butter

30g/1¼oz flour

300ml/½pt full fat milk

3tbsp double cream

2tsp Dijon mustard

2 large leeks

70g/2½oz streaky bacon

Salt and Freshly ground black pepper

Fresh parsley

First you need to roast of your chickens, but here is an idea. Now days most supermarkets have a rotisserie where you have roasted chicken, go at the end of the day and see if there are any on offer, they normally do. Now once your chicken is cooked and cooled you have to strip the meat from the bones. Put all the skin and the bones in a sauce pan. Cut the meat up into reasonable sized chunks for the pie and put them in the fridge.

Now if toy are going to make you pastry then you can use the basic short crust recipes on this blog or just buy a packet if you like. Just click on shortcrust pastry here and it will take you to the recipe.  

Now to your bones add the water and bring the pan to the boil and let it just simmer until the water has reduced by about half. Keep skinning all the time to take the fat off. Then strain it threw a sieve and put the stock to one side. Remove any fat that form on the top.

Finally you are ready to make your sauce for your pie. Start by chopping up the streaky bacon and thin a pan. Add the butter and the flour and work it all into a roux. Then add the leeks that you have washed and diced. Let them sweat down in to the mix and the a little at a time add the stock. Once you have a nice smooth sauce add the milk, double cream and mustard. Then season, but taste first you do not want too much salt in it and you might have plenty in the sauce already from the bacon. Take the sauce of the heat and add a good amount of fresh chopped parsley and then let it cool.

Roll your pastry out and line your pie tin. Mix the cooked chicken with the sauce then cover with the pastry top. Now how you decorate your pie is up to you but make sure that you have a hole in the middle to let the steam out when it is cooking. Now you can keep it in the fridge until you are ready to bake it. Egg wash your pie and then bake in an oven that has been preheated to 200c/400f for about 25 to 30 minutes until bubbling and golden brown and serve immediately.