Chicken and Mushroom Pies

There is something great about chicken leftovers.  Something which is almost better than the original chicken (almost, I'm a sucker for crispy skin).  The other great thing about making your own pies is you can just stick with pastry on the top which cuts down on the refined carbs and fat and you can include some vegetables (or fungi) in the sauce.

You can make this into one large pie or several smaller ones.  There's certainly enough here for two adults and a child.  If you have any pastry left over, there is another recipe to follow, so stick it in a bag in the fridge...

Chicken and Mushroom pies - Serves 2 adults and 1 child

Ingredients

Pastry
100g, 3.5oz Plain Flour
10g, 0.5oz Cornflour / cornstarch (or use more plain flour)
70g, 2.5oz Butter
Cold water to mix
Milk

Pie filling
150g, 5oz Mushrooms, sliced
Spray oil or vegetable oil
300g, 10oz Cooked chicken
300-350ml, 10-12fl oz Gravy or thickened stock (you can use the chicken bones to make the stock, thicken it before allowing to cool.)
Fresh thyme

Method

Fry the mushrooms in the oil until brown and pretty much cooked.  Allow to fully cool.  When cool mix all of the cold filling ingredients together.

Preheat the oven to 180oC (fan oven), 200oC (conventional), 400F, Gas Mark 6.

Make the pastry, ideally in a food processor (because it's way easier but can be done by hand).  Rub the butter into the flours and then add enough cold water to come together.  Don't add too much, just keep adding the cold water until it just starts to come together.

Put the pie filling into your dish or dishes.  Roll out the pastry to the right size and approx 1-2mm thickness.  Cut to the size of your dish and put on top, pressing the edges of the pastry to the dish edge. Cut a vent hole in the top then brush with milk, adding some pastry decoration if liked.

Does my son care I put ivy leaves on his pie?  Probably not but I think it's nice to take time and effort over his food.  This was a mini pie, just for him and I refuse to do too much making food look like a face stuff!

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until browned and the filling is completely hot and bubbling.

Allow to cool a bit before serving as it will stay hot for a while.  Serve with vegetables.

My son loved it.  Initially saying "I don't like pastry" then trying it and realising that in fact he very much did!

Make it Thrifty:

Oven cooking isn't the thriftiest way to make a meal but if you have the oven on, you might as well make use of it.  Why not cook some jacket potatoes, either to make into mash or to scoop out and stuff later?  Also save any pastry offcuts or excess pastry in a plastic bag in the fridge to make my next recipe.