PHRIDAY PHEAST #3 – Good Old Fashioned CHOOK PIE. 0

I love Pies.

Meat pies. Apple pies. Cream pies. And of course, Chook pies.

THIS Chook pie in particular is RIDICULOUSLY delicious, very, very low in fat and super simple to make too! You can up the calories (and deliciousness level) by using full fat milk and butter and lots more of it, but if you are watching your waistline and health conscious in general, then follow the exact recipe below and prepare yourself for a treat that won’t send your heart into a crazed stir!

INGREDIENTS

(This will make a large pie i.e 6 large / main course pieces or 8 small main course pieces that you might want to serve with salad. The dish I used measures 50cm x 30cm)

Olive oil
1 brown onion
4 cloves garlic
1/2 bunch spring onions

4 large chicken breasts – diced

5 large carrots
1 large leek
1 bunch parsley
10 large cup mushrooms mushrooms – diced (You can use whatever Mushrooms you like! You just want about the equivalent of 5 large carrots worth)

250g bacon / ham / pancetta – diced

Low fat butter (just get the tub out and follow directions below!! You will need a tablespoon here and a tablespoon there, plus some melted to line the pastry)
100g Plain flour
750g Skim milk

Salt
Pepper
Ground cinnamon
Mild curry powder

METHOD

Place a tablespoon of butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large saucepan. When the butter starts to sing to you add the onion, spring onion and garlic and fry off. You don’t want to colour the onions, just to make them transparent. Already smells amazing, right?!

Once the onions have become translucent, add in the chicken pieces and fry these off too.

Whilst the chicken is cooking, prepare your veges for the pie. Rougly chop up the carrots, leeks, mushrooms and parsley – throw them in a bowl. I say roughly because I know that the majority of my readers are time poor and by saying “chop the vegetables into EXACTLY 1cm cubes” I would stress you all out. The MAIN reason recipes ask you to chop things the same size is so that they cook perfectly in the same amount of time, but as this is a pie and I am not trying to give my veges the perfect crunch (as Donna Hay would say) it really doesn’t make too much of a difference. That said, try and GENERALLY chop things the same size but be rough about it. Does that make sense?!

Now back to the chicken. It should be about 90% cooked by now……

It’s at this point that I throw in some salt and some curry powder to season. You can use black pepper as well or instead of the curry powder, but I find the curry powder adds a different and far more tasty edge to the dish (I add in about 1 teaspoon of it).

Now it’s time to toss those veges in, so do it. With them add about 1 cup of boiled water from the kettle, this will help them to cook. Chuck the lid back on the pot.

Remove the lid after about 5 mins and give it all a good stir. Do this after about 15 mins as well.

Whilst the veges are cooking, you want to crisp up some ham or bacon or pancetta in the oven AND make your bechamel sauce.

For the ham, roughly chop it into bits about the size of a 10 cent piece. Whack it onto a piece of non-stick baking paper, place on tray and slam into 180 deg cel oven to crisp up for about 5 mins. Remove and set aside.

For the bechamel sauce (or white sauce) you will need to make a roux and then whisk in the milk. To make the roux, place 100 g of butter and 100g of flour into a saucepan.

Turn on the heat to medium and mix the flour and butter together until the butter melts and they form a ‘paste’. They must be fully combined. This is the roux. BE CAREFUL NOT TO BURN IT! (Avoid burning by continuously stirring.) RED ALERT RED ALERT – pic below DOES NOT SHOW a combined roux – it is about half combined…..picture of combined roux FAILED and shall not be published.

To your roux, add 750ml of milk and CONTINUOUSLY WHISK…..

……..like a crazy person

The Whisk is your most beloved friend out of every ingredient and utensil in this ENTIRE DISH.

You do not want this to burn either and you also DO NOT want lumps. WHISK WHISK WHISK. After about 5 mins of whisking, add 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of curry powder or cracked black pepper.

CONTINUE TO WHISK. You will notice the sauce is starting to thicken. KEEP WHISKING. Once it has completely thickened (abouttttttttttttt 8 mins) take it off the heat, allow to cool slightly.

Add bechamel to chicken mix (which should now be ready, veges soft) and stir through then add the crispy ham and stir together. Set aside to cool.

Pastry time. Brush your dish with melted butter. Then commence layering filo pastry and butter alternately until you have done 10-15 layers of each. Have a look at my Baclava recipe to see how this is done. IF you just don’t feel comfy using this amount of butter (I must say I didn’t for this pie) then only butter in between every 4th or 5th layer.

Add the slightly cooled chicken mix to the pastry base, dollop by dollop…..

Once all the mixture has been added, spread it out evenly with a spatula.

Now, repeat the layering process with another 10 sheets of filo for the top of the pie. Again, if you want, you don’t have to butter in between every layer, every 4th or so is fine. Make sure to put a generous layer of butter on the top though, as you really want it coming out nice and golden. I used my leftover pastry to cut out a heart for Husbies. You can cut whatever shape you want! Letters are always a hit!

Into the oven, 180 deg cel for aboutttttttttt 45 mins or until pie is golden and crisp on top!

And when I say golden, I mean GOLDEN!

I like to serve a really generous piece of this – the ultimate COMFORT DINNER!

I also like to make sure I scoop up all the filing that belongs to each piece when serving.

YUM!

DOUBLE YUM!

Kali Orexi!

Happy Weekend!