Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Classic food combinations become classics because they've stood the test of time. Chicken paired with leek and mushrooms is one such timeless blend, as is the interplay between flaky pastry and creamy sauce. This pie is certainly greater than the sum of its parts! Mastering the simple techniques in a chicken and mushroom pie allows you to adapt the dish to your family's preferences and tastes.
I am currently enjoying the HBO Max series Julia, a fictional depiction of Julia Child's life as she embarked on her first TV show The French Chef in 1963. In the 206 episodes of her original program, Julia used recipes from her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Her editor, Judith Jones, states "To Julia, a classic would be a master recipe that utilized time-honoured techniques. Once these were understood and mastered, the techniques could be allied to an infinite number of dishes that were essentially variations on the theme."
Pie making is definitely one of those skills that are useful to learn. Using gluten free pastry as I do, adds an extra dimension of difficulty, but this is not insurmountable. For this recipe, I have used a commercial puff pastry, but you can certainly make your own, and the butteriness that will result perfectly compliments this pie. Here is my puff pastry recipe. Luckily, commercially available gluten free pastries have improved over the last few years, and you can get good results using them.
There is some debate as to whether a pie needs a base and a lid, or just a lid. The great British TV cook Mary Berry created a storm on Twitter in 2018, on Britain's Best Home Cook by stating "I love chicken pie with bacon in it," adding, "and I wouldn't put pastry underneath, absolutely." (Yes I do watch a lot of cooking shows on TV, streaming services and YouTube!). One of Mary's cohosts, Dan Doherty replied to Mary's comments with "I'm very cautious of disagreeing with you. However I think for a pie to be a pie, it needs a base otherwise it's a stew with a hat on." I'm with Dan on this one!
The pie dish you use will in some ways answer this debate. If you use a casserole dish for the filling, you only need a "hat" on it. If you use a solid pie dish you can choose, but if you use a perforated pie dish as I do, then you will need a pastry base and lid. Gluten free pastry can be very soggy. The perforated tin ensures a crisp base without the need to blind bake.
Blind baking is a simple technique to ensure the crispness of the base of the pie. Wikipedia neatly defines it as the process of baking a pie crust or other pastry without the filling. Blind baking a pie crust is necessary when it will be filled with an unbaked filling (such as with pudding or cream pies), in which case the crust must be fully baked. It is also called for if the filling has a shorter bake time than the crust, in which case the crust is partly baked. Blind baking is also used to keep the pie crust from becoming soggy due to a wet filling. I use this technique in my recipe for a Lemon tart.
In my Chicken and Mushroom Pie, I make a roux adding flour to the pan with the butter, leeks and chicken and cooking for a few minutes before adding the stock. This thickens the sauce inside the pie. This is useful as it means the pie filling doesn't ooze out during cooking or when cut to serve. If you prefer it less thick, you can adjust the amount of flour, but you will need to use a pie bird to vent the steam from the pie, preventing the filling from bubbling over and the crust to go soggy. A pie bird is a hollow ceramic tool (often made in a bird shape).
I usually serve this pie with some baked potatoes and some crisp green beans. For all the tips on making this delicious pie watch my video in the link below the recipe.
Serves 4
• 200 g swiss brown button mushrooms quartered
• 3 chicken thighs cut into bite sized pieces
• 1 tbl olive olive
• 2 tbl butter
• 1 leek finely chopped
• 40 g plain flour (gluten free)
• 175 ml chicken stock
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 3 tbl crème fraîche
• A couple of sprigs rosemary and thyme
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• 2 sheets puff pastry (gluten free)
• 1 egg
• Splash of milk
• Salt and pepper
Preheat oven to 170°C fan forced.
In a large frypan heat olive oil and butter. Add leek and gently sauté until soft. Add chicken and gently brown. Add flour and stir well to coat the chicken. Add mushrooms, dijon mustard, crème fraîche and chicken stock. Stir well.
Add thyme, rosemary and nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a slow simmer, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Using 1 sheet of pastry, carefully line a 20 cm pie dish.
Blind bake for 10 minutes, remove baking beads and bake a further 5 minutes. (If using a perforated pie dish, there is no need to blind bake)
Remove and discard thyme and rosemary sprigs from pan. Carefully spoon the slightly cooled chicken mixture into the pie case. Cover with remaining pastry sheet.
Mix egg and milk together to make an egg wash. Brush over pastry top and bake for 30 minutes until golden.
Allow to stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Comments