I have had a lot of problems with pie recently, poor pastry mostly so this was a chance to redeem myself and make a fresh start in my new Le Creuset pie dish.
Now, I wanted to nail a shortcrust pastry at last and on the previous weeks tv, was The Baker Brothers. Rather than use one type of fat in the pastry, they used 2, so I upped them again by running out of butter with 50 grams required and used lard to finish it off. The recipe for the pastry is here:
Shortcrust Pastry, fool proof recipe
- 600g strong white flour
- 150g cold beef dripping, broken into pieces
- 150g cold butter, diced (or 100g butter and 50g lard)
- 2 tbsp ice cold water
1. Tip the flour and beef dripping into a food processor and pulse until fine breadcrumbs appear. Place butter (and lard) in gradually until all incorporated. Leave on slowest speed until larger breadcrumbs formed.
2. Gradually add water until pastry starts to come together. Mine didn't come together that much in the food processor and I had to finish it off by hand. Shape into a sausage and wrap in cling film. Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. I thought I was so organised and left in the fridge over night and when I got to using it, it was far too cold. If you leave in the fridge for any length of time, remove at least half an hour before use, I recommend.
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For the filling, I also copied the Baker Brother's recipe and it was fantastic. The main recipe can be found here.
Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie Filling
- Good knob of butter
- 3 leeks, washed and shredded
- Small bunch of thyme
- 6 rashers bacon, chopped
- 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, diced
- 2 heaped tbsp plain flour
- Good glass of white wine
- 250ml crème fraiche
- Small bunch of tarragon, leaves picked and roughly chopped
1. Add the butter, leeks and thyme to a large frying pan and melt down for 15 minutes. Add salt and pepper.
2. Meanwhile in a separate frying pan, fry off the bacon until cooked, add the chicken thighs and cook until caramelisation begins.
3. Once the leeks are cooked, mix the flour with the leek mixture and cook out for 20 seconds, add the wine and mix together, leave on heat for a couple of minutes to burn off some of the alcohol. Add the chicken and bacon to the leek mixture and the creme fraiche. Stir to combine before adding the tarragon. Give a final stir and leave to cool.
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Once the pie mixture is cool, it is time to construct the pie. Take half the pastry and roll out to approx. 5mm thick. Cover the base of the pie dish so pastry over hangs the edges. Prick the base with a fork in several places. Add the chilled pie filling so even coverage. Take the remainder of the pastry and roll out to 5mm thickness for the lid. Add egg wash around the edge of the pastry in the pie dish and place your lid on top. Crimp the edges and trim the excess pastry by running a knife around the outside of the pie dish. If you want use the remaining pastry to create a thin design on top of the pie, I did a heart for Valentine's Day, of course. Brush egg was over the top and place in the fridge for 20 minutes. Remove from the fridge and give another egg wash. Pierce a couple of hole in top with a knife to allow the steam to escape and cook in the oven at 200C (180C fan) for 25 - 30 minutes.
The result was a perfect pie, something I have been trying to achieve for a long time.
I served my pie with girdled asparagus and mash with scallions mixed through.
Both myself and Miss Bob were very happy with our Valentine's dinner, no better way to a woman's heart.
Mr Potato
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