Chicken Leek and Potato Pie à la Nigel Slater (Bake-Along #62)

I have bookmarked the blog-hop event Bake-Along #62 : Theme – Savoury Pie/ Tart more than a month ago, however, I have completely forgotten about it. The life road I have been travelling on of late had been rather long, rough and winding. My office workload has taken a toll on my supposedly free time. Arghhh…!

Anyway, not too long ago today, I had a brief chat with my friend, Miss B from Everybody Eats Well in Flanders. We were discussing about Alex Goh’s treasured recipes she is currently hosting for the months June and July and co-hosted by Charmaine of Mimi Bakery House, then all of a sudden, wham-bam she reminded me of tomorrow’s deadline of Bake-Along!!

I hopped over to Zoe’s blog like greased lightning and noted that the linkup submission would be closed in 14 hours and 50 minutes!!! Ooh la la… that’s less than one day!!

Then I smiled at Zoe’s candid link up, “Hurry up Chicken Pie – A Highly Reviewed Paula Deen’s Recipe”. Hmmm…. at least I wasn’t the only one “hurrying up” 😀

And by the way, that was more than 5 hours ago!

I just checked again the countdown submission deadline, and the clock was ticking, every so vigorously. Tick Tock! Tick Tock! Tick Tock! At this point in time, I have less than 9 hours to closing deadline. Gee-whizz! Time and tide certainly wait for no man…

Okay! Let’s get started and stop dallying, will ya?

Love at First Sight and Comfort Food 

Some months back I was watching one of BBC’s  Channels when Nigel Slater’s Dish of the Day’s slot was on. One of his recipes caught my eye almost instantly. It was his Chicken and Leek Pie.

I adore savoury pies and puffs and replicating Nigel’s recipe in my kitchen was such an honour. It was my kind of comfort food, and each time I made the Pie, my guys licked their platters clean. What more can I say? One thing’s for sure, I LOVE washing up ultra clean plates.  Ha ha ha…

This recipe is adapted from Nigel Slater’s Dish of the Day Chicken and Leek Pie which serves 8. I have made some changes indicated in blue font

 Ingredients –

• 2 chicken thighs (I used 4 chicken legs, divided them into 4 thighs and 4 drumsticks)
• 2 chicken legs
• 8 peppercorns (I did not count, but it was definitely more than 8)
• ½ onion (I used 1 small onion)
• 1 bay leaf (I used 3 bay leaves)
• Milk (enough to cover chicken pieces)
• 6 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, cut into postage stamp-size pieces (I bought the ready-cut smoked bacon)
• 30g/1oz butter
• 2 leeks, sliced into ½ inch discs (I used 3 leeks)
• 3 Tbsp plain flour
• 3 tsp Dijon mustard (I used 1 ½ Tbsp)
• 2 x 375g/13oz packs of puff pastry (I could not get the rectangular shaped puff pastry Nigel was referring to, hence, I had to settle with what I could get hold of at our local supermarket. I bought Marc Payot’s 2 x 230g round-shaped puff pastry)
• 1 egg, beaten, for glazing
• Parmesan, grated, for topping (I forgot the cheese the first time I made the pie, but I did remember the second and third times I baked the pie)
• 2 medium-sized potatoes, diced -> this was not in the recipe
• Salt and pepper to taste

 

Preparation method –

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
2. In a saucepan add the chicken, peppercorns, onion and bay leaf. Cover with milk. Bring to the boil and simmer for 25 minutes until the chicken is cooked.
3. Meanwhile, fry the bacon in the butter. Add the sliced leeks and diced potatoes and allow to soften.
4. When the chicken is cooked remove from the milk and flake the chicken meat into the pan with the leaks, discarding the bones.
5. Add the flour and cook through for two minutes before adding the milk through a sieve to remove peppercorns and bay leaf. Add the Dijon mustard. Stir constantly to make a thick sauce.
6. Roll out the sheets of puff pastry to a rectangular shape (I used the round-shaped “bladerdeeg” (puff pastry) at a pound coin thickness. Lay the filling on one sheet and then cover with the second sheet and crimp the edges.
7. Brush the pie with a beaten egg and sprinkle the grated Parmesan over the top. Bake in the oven for 35-45 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked and turned a smashing golden brown.

 Say “Cheese!”

And here’s one I made, topping the pastry crust with some grated cheese. With or without cheese topping, the Chicken Leek Potato Pie was sinfully delectable!

 

Before the clock strikes 12 midnight and before my Pie metamorphosizes into a “pumpkin”, I am hurrying over to Bake-Along No 62 with the theme Savoury Pie/ Tart, hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, Joyce from Kitchen Flavours and Lena from Frozen wings

I am also linking this post to Little Thumbs up with the June theme “Butter”, organized by Doreen from my little favourite DIY and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids, hosted by Jozelyn from Spice Up My Kitchen at this post.

 

Oh-oh , did I leave my glass slipper behind?

Have a FUN-tastic weekend!

Cheers!