Ooh yes! I love chicken pie and its actually less faff to make than you might have been led to believe. You can use left over roast chicken for this lovely home made chicken and mushroom pie recipe or you can cook up some chicken thighs for a filling and tasty treat. The secret to the sauce is to use condensed chicken soup and some tarragon for an amazing flavour. The mushrooms are cooked in vintage cider which imparts a lovely flavour to the pie. Home made does not extend to the pastry in this version, you can make your own if you wish.I enjoy making pastry but I sometimes need a short cut so shop bought pastry is perfectly acceptable in this recipe. This recipe serves 4 however it’s usually shared between two in our house.
Ingredients
350g packet of ready made shortcrust pastry (or home made if you prefer)
4 chicken thighs or left over cooked chicken
300g mushrooms
1 can condensed chicken soup
Tablespoon of butter
100ml vintage cider
Sprigs of fresh tarragon or dried if you haven’t got fresh
1 beaten egg to glaze the pie
Method
Roll the pastry out and line a cake tin with 3/4 of it. The other 1/4 is for the lid. Place the pastry in the fridge to rest as much as possible to try and reduce the shrinkage. If you are not using left over roast chicken, put the chicken thighs into a pan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes.
Chop the mushrooms into quarters and throw into a large shallow frying pan with the butter. Cook down then add the cider and reduce until most of the cider has gone. Add the soup and the tarragon and stir well. Take off the heat. Chop the chicken into bit sized pieces and add to the soup and mushroom mix. Check the seasoning then leave to cool for a bit.
Preheat the oven at 200 degrees centigrade. Take the pastry out of the fridge and fill the case with the cooled home made chicken and mushoom pie mix. Roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid. Cover the cake tin, trim and press the edges with a fork to seal. Make some shapes from the scraps to decorate if you want. Poke some holes in the top with a sharp knife to release any steam build up in the oven then glaze with the beaten egg using a brush or your fingers.
Put the pie in the oven and set the timer for 45 minutes. When the pie is golden brown and coming away from the edge of the tin, it’s probably cooked. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool for a bit. Using oven gloves, run a knife around the edge of the tin to loosen the pastry then turn out onto the wire rack.
Serve with mash, chips, vegetables or the left over cider. Salad might be an option too.
If you liked this recipe, you might like stuffed mushrooms: https://cookingwithfi.com/stuffed-mushrooms-with-quinoa-quinoa-stuffed-mushrooms/
See my Cooking With Fi channel on You Tube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GogfJUCPKwg