Even though Cape Town has offered us such amazing weather so far this winter there are still a few miserable days in between and what better way to spend them than by producing this beautiful labour of love – a slow-cooked chicken and mushroom pie? I have always wanted to make a chicken pie from scratch…the Slow Cooked way! I must however admit that I did cheat a little bit…I used store bought puff pastry, but it is AMAZING Woolies all-butter French puff pastry so it really does taste homemade and super delish!
Ingredients
Makes six small pies or one large pie
- 1 whole free-range chicken or six free-range chicken pieces
- 2 large onions
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cloves
- 1 large carrot
- Punnet of button mushrooms(250g)
- Punnet of brown mushrooms ( 250g)
- 10ml Olive Oil
- 10ml mixed herbs
- 3ml fresh nutmeg
- Maizena (app 10-15ml)
- Two packets All Butter Puff pastry
- 1 egg
Cooking method
1. Cover chicken in a large pot with water. Peel and chop one onion into quarters and add to chicken along with the Bay leave, cloves and one carrot chopped into 5cm chunks. Let this simmer for about an hour or two on a medium heat until chicken is very tender ( you are technically making a chicken stock while cooking your chicken!)
2. Remove the chicken from the water and place in a bowl to cool.The chicken should feel really tender and slip off the bone. Keep the water you have boiled the chicken in and strain through a sieve as this will act as your stock a bit later. Remove all skin and bones and keep chicken meat seperate.
3. Finely chop the other onion and mushrooms and fry off in the oil. Add mixed herbs, nutmeg and salt and pepper and let this simmer for a few minutes and then add the shredded chicken.
4. Add a bit off the stock to the chicken and mushroom mixture ( about a cup). Season to taste.
5. Add maizena to this mixture to thicken the pie filling. Add it bit by bit and keep stirring the filling to allow the Mazena to dissolve properly. Let this thicken for a few minutes over a low heat. Remove from heat and alow to cool a bit while you prepare the pie casing.
6. Line the pie dish with your Woolies All Butter Puff Pastry and blind bake this for about 15 min.
7. Fill with your pie filling and top with Woolies All Butter Puff Pastry…Brush with a beaten egg and bake for 15 min.
Voila! Your slow cooked pie is ready to serve! I served mine with roasted baby potatoes and peas. Hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it!
