I think it is universal that chicken pie conjures up feelings of comfort and love. It sure delivers that here in our house. Golden flaky pastry encasing a creamy chicken filling, packed full of flavour, does it get any better?!

Now this isn’t a quick dish, but I promise you will earn a lot of brownie points with your dining companions.

Chicken & Leek Pie

Ingredients

650 grams Flaky puff pastry (or 4 pre-rolled sheets)
60 + 15 grams Butter
2 1/2 cups Milk
1/4 cup White flour
1 Leek, green end removed, white end sliced
1 can Corn, drained
800 grams Chicken thigh or breast, cut into 3cm pieces
4 rashers Bacon, sliced to 1cm pieces
2 tsp Wholegrain mustard
1 Egg
1 + 1/2 tbsp Oil, I use canola
Salt & pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees fan bake

To make the pie filling

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a frypan on medium heat. Season the chicken well with salt and pepper and fry until cooked through and golden. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Add the leeks to the pan and fry off with a knob (approx. 15 grams of butter) and ½teaspoon of oil, season well. If the leeks stick to the pan at all, you can add a teaspoon of two of water to loosen.
After a few minutes of cooking add the bacon. Stir occasionally until bacon and leeks are cooked through.
While the leeks and bacon are cooking, you can make the sauce.
Ina medium sized pot, add 2 tablespoons of butter, once melted add the flour and cook off for a couple of minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon so it doesn’t burn or stick.
Once golden, take off the heat and add ¼ of the milk. Stir to combine, if needed use a whisk.
Place back on the heat and add the rest of the milk gradually and whisk out any lumps.
Once a lovely thick and creamy consistency, add the mustard, salt & pepper and taste. Adjust seasoning if needed.
Take the pot off the heat and add the chicken, corn, and leek & bacon mix.
Set aside.

To assemble

Rollout your pastry.
In a greased 10 cup capacity pie dish, line the bottom with pastry, prick with a fork and place a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry so we can blind bake it.
Scrunch the paper and flatten out again so it sits in nicely.
Pour over baking beans or rice. Bake for ten minutes.
Remove your blind baking beans/rice and the layer of baking paper and add your chicken filling to the pie.
Brush the edges of the pastry with egg wash, made from egg mixed with a fork with 1 tablespoon of water.
Then top the pie with the remaining piece of pastry. Pinch the edges to seal, then brush the top with more egg wash and pierce a couple of small holes in the top of the pie with a sharp knife.
Bake at 180 degrees for 25-30 mins until golden.
Serve with your favourite green vegetables.

Recipe Notes

I make many variations of this pie, and so can you.

– Swap the leek for onion or leave out altogether.
– Swap the corn for sliced mushrooms and cook them off when you are cooking the chicken.
– Leave out the bacon if you aren’t a fan.
– Add zucchini, peas or spinach if you are trying to get more vegetables in your meals.