CHICKEN & MUSHROOM PIE

Tonight we have some friends coming over for dinner.

Today, like the last few days has been busy so I needed something quick ... Chicken and Mushroom Pie is the perfect solution. It takes very little time and looks as well as tastes great.

As there are only six of us for dinner tonight I cooked eight of these this morning, I had one for lunch and the children will have the last one for tea ... it really is a great dish for busy days.

CHICKEN & MUSHROOM PIE - Makes 8 Pies

Ingredients

1kg Chicken Breasts, 300g Chestnut Mushrooms, 250ml Stock, 300ml Creme Fraiche, 2 Cloves of garlic, 1 Teaspoon dried Thyme, Salt and Pepper, 375g Puff pastry

Equipments

8 x Single portion oven proof dishes

Turn the oven to 200
Roll out the puff pastry and cut eight circles the same size as the outside of the oven proof dishes. These will make the lids of your pies, place them on a lined baking tray
Layout your eight dishes
Cut the chicken into bite size pieces and slice mushrooms
Divide the chicken and mushrooms between the eight dishes
Mix the creme fraiche, stock, garlic, and thyme together in a jug. Season with salt and pepper and pour the liquid over the eight bowls filled with the chicken and mushrooms. Leave a little gap at the top of the bowls so that the liquid won’t bubble over when cooking. (You might need to stir the mixture into the chicken slightly to make sure all the chicken is covered
Place the dishes on a baking tray and place on the top shelf of the oven for 10 minutes
After ten minutes stir the chicken pies then move them down a shelf and place the baking tray with the pastry lids on them on to the top shelf, cook for a further 15 minutes
Once the pies are cooked through, remove them from the oven and place the lids on top of the pies and serve

Cooking Notes

The ceramic dishes that I use are the ones that you get free when you buy Charlie Bighams Pies (which I throughly recomend if you run out of time or have just had a baby and have no time to cook!). They are 12cm wide and 5cm deep.

I tend to by puff pastry that is ready rolled on to baking paper. I unroll the pastry then cut out circles for the lids and remove the excess pastry from around the circles. This way you get very clean lids. You need to make the puff pastry rounds the same size as the outside of the pie bowls as they shrink when cooked. I draw round one bowl and make a paper template to cut round.

A 375g packet will make six lids from the original pastry, you make the last two lids from the excess ... Rich and I eat these lids and our guests get the prettier ones. If you the lids to be cut from fresh pastry then you need to buy two packets.

Adapting

If you don’t want to use puff pastry you can use breadcrumbs to top the pie. Makes some breadcrumbs and put them on the top of the pie before you cook them.