Chicken & Mushroom Pie

Next to Fish & Chips, Pies are about as British as you can get. Chicken & Mushroom Pie has always been a childhood favourite and to be honest I usually use leftover Roast chicken but I thought as I had a couple of Chicken breasts I would use them instead. Good as they were I would have to say it would be better with some leftover roast Chicken as well!

I marinated the Chicken Breasts in some Lemon olive Oil Black pepper and a sprig of Thyme and a crushed clove of Garlic for an hour or two.

Then in a hot skillet with a little Olive Oil fried off the chunks of Chicken Breast with a chopped clove of Garlic, after a few minutes added some Button mushrooms, Portobello Mushrooms would be better, just didn't have any, after 3 or 4 minutes added some plain Flour and gave a good stir. Then added a splash of White Wine and some Chicken Stock that I had added some dried Mushrooms too earlier.

Using a slotted spoon I took out the Chicken and Mushrooms and put them in a Cazuelas as I don't have a proper Pie Dish, added some milk to the pan and increased the heat and let it reduce, seasoned well and added a sprig of Thyme and some fresh Parsley.

When it comes to puff pastry who can really be bothered making it from scratch... I used a frozen ready made Puff Pastry rolled it out pretty thin, so it would be crispy, cut out the odd Leaf for decoration, and after adding the reduced sauce to the meat, put some egg and Milk wash over the pastry and around the rim of the dish, cut some holes in the Pastry to let the steam escape and crimped the edges of the pastry around the lid as best I could.

Put the whole thing in a preheated Oven at 200c for 30 minutes. I have to say it wasn't half bad, could be improved, I think a bit of Spinach in the Pie would be nice. The thing about Pies there are no rules put whatever you fancy in the Pie, But do make one once in a while, They are the ultimate comfort food on a cold day!!