Chicken and Bacon Pie

I am always looking to try new recipes, and the genesis for this dish came from a leaflet my friend picked up at the supermarket. My mother has made pies like this for years, mostly using swiss chard or spinach, and a cheese, often mozzarella. This simple but comforting dish is almost embarrassingly easy, and makes a great standby supper.

This dish is similar to the pies my mother used to make but with a vaguely more complicated filling, though it is still fairly manageable. What is also great about this pie is that it can be made in advance and stored, ready to be cooked in the fridge. You can also make a vegetarian version of this pie, using quorn chicken and omitting the bacon, though you will need to add more liquid, as not only will the quorn not give out any liquid, on the contrary it will soak it up.

Start by preparing and dicing the chicken thighs, and chopping 4 rashers of streaky bacon, and browning them in a pan with a little olive oil and some thyme leaves.

When the chicken has browned add two tablespoons of plain flour, and stir vigorously until the flour has combined with the juices. Pour in some white wine and allow it to bubble for a few minutes.

Dice the mushrooms and make up your chicken stock, add both to the pan and allow it to simmer until the sauce has thickened and the mushrooms are tender. At this point the chicken should be cooked through and there should be no pink. Remove from the heat and add the creme fraiche, stirring to combine.

While the filling is simmering roll out the puff pastry to slightly larger than your dish and cut a cross in the middle to let the steam escape. Ladle the pie filling into an ovenproof dish, and cover with the pastry, folding the points of the cross over to make a square hole. Fold the excess pastry over to make a border and crimp the edge with a fork. Brush the pastry with milk.

Bake the pie in a 200 degree oven until the pastry is golden and crisp. Serve with mashed potatoes made by mashing peeled and boiled potatoes with the leftover creme fraiche, season well.

ingredients

olive oil
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon, chopped
6 boneless chicken thigh fillets, diced
2 sprigs thyme
2 tbsp plain flour
100ml white wine
300ml chicken stock
250g button mushrooms
4 tbsp creme fraiche
1 pack puff pastry
2 tbsp milk