Chicken and Mushroom Pie

To celebrate National Pie Week, and the fact that Chicken Pie has been voted as the nations favourite, we’ve got this amazing chicken and mushroom pie to warm you up. Comfort food at it’s best with a creamy filling with free range chicken from the farm.

Serves 4 | Prep time: 30 mins | Cooking time: 1 hour

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil
3 Beech Ridge Farm free range chicken breasts, skin and bone removed
150g/5½oz button mushrooms, quartered
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
50g/2oz butter
2 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting
300ml/½ pint milk
200ml/7fl oz chicken stock
freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
freshly ground white pepper
pinch salt
small handful fresh parsley, chopped
500g/1lb 2oz ready-made shortcrust pastry
1 free-range egg, beaten

Method

Preheat your oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.

In a frying pan cook the chicken with a little oil – fry until the chicken begins to turn white.

Add the mushrooms and continue to fry until the chicken is lovely and golden-brown.

Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add the onion and garlic to the same pan and fry for 2-3 minutes or until softened.

Remove from the heat and set aside alongside the chicken and mushrooms.

Next make a roux – Melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly until it has formed a thick smooth paste

Mix the milk and stock together in a jug, add the nutmeg, white pepper & salt to taste.

Pour the liquid slowly into the flour mixture, whisking all the time until smooth.

Simmer over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, for about five minutes or until the sauce has thickened.

Stir in the chopped parsley and pour the sauce over the chicken and mushroom mixture. Mix well, then spoon into a pie dish and leave until completely cool.

Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface you want ti to be the thickness of a pound coin.

Brush the edges of the pie dish with beaten egg, lay the pastry on top, press down the edges and trim. Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg and decorate the top of the pie with leaft shares if you wish.

Make two or three slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape and then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden-brown on top.

To fill the pie out even more, you could try adding gammon into the mix – simply cook and add with the chicken.

Enjoy with buttered greens and mashed potato.