You might be able to guess, but just to make clear;
the former I refer to is the salad and the latter, the pie. However, perhaps
this is unfair on the humble pie, for this de-licious dish only looks like a
dogs dinner due to my poor photography skills and in actual fact is rather
pretty for a pie – honestly, I even cut out pastry leaves to decorate the top!
The golden puff pastry gives way to a bright green leek and tender chicken
filling and tastes divinely comforting – just what one needs when the weather
is so horrid. If I was to attempt to make this dish more stylish (in accordance
with my blog, but there is no need bar aesthetics) I’d try it in individual
pots. The recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver’s ‘Turkey and Sweet Leek Pie’
which he uses to serve all the leftovers from a Christmas dinner (adding in any
stuffing and rolling chopped chestnuts and sage into the pastry) but I felt
that it was too good a recipe to save for just once a year, so omitted the
Christmas trimmings and swapped the meat.
So on to the beauty which is simplicity itself. Of
course, there is nothing groundbreaking about this salad – I eat this kind of
thing on a regular basis – but one particularly wet lunch time this week I felt
like playing with the arrangement on the plate - I obviously had too much time
on my hands! There is no recipe as it is purely about contrasting ingredients:
crispy bitter chicory, creamy avocado, cucumber sliced on a sharp diagonal,
strong parmesan shavings and boiled eggs (from my diligent chickens) drizzled
with a dressing made up of 1 tbsp of balsamic vinegar, olive oil, agave nectar,
wholegrain mustard and a twist of salt and pepper.
Chicken and Sweet Leek Pie
Serves 6-8
- Preheat
oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Put 2 Rashers Smoked Streaky Bacon, chopped, in
a large pan on a medium heat and add ½ Bunch of Picked Thyme Leaves. Add a
lug of olive oil and a Large Knob of Butter and let it all fry off a few
minutes.
- Add 2kg
Leeks, washed, trimmed; white ends chopped into chunks and the green ends
finely sliced, and fry them off for about 3 minutes so they are
well-coated in the butter. Add a pinch of salt and pepper then pop the lid
on top, turn the heat down to medium and let them cook away gently for 30
minutes, stirring every 5 to 10 minutes to make sure they don't catch.
- Meanwhile,
if using uncooked chicken, poach 800g chicken (breast or thighs, or a
mixture) in enough water to cover the chicken, 1 Carrot and Celery Stick,
chopped, 4 Bay Leaves, Tbsp Black Peppercorns, until cooked. Drain,
reserving the liquid and leave to cool. Remove any skin and bones and chop
into chunks. Otherwise use 800g of cooked chicken meat.
- When your
leeks are ready, add the chicken to them and stir. Add 2 Heaped Tbsp
Flour, mix it in well then pour in 2 pints of the Poaching Liquid or stock
from a cube and stir again. Add the 2 Tbsp Crème Fraîche then turn the
heat up and bring everything back up to the boil. Have a taste and add a
bit more salt and pepper if it needs it then turn the heat off. Pour the
mixture through a sieve over another large empty pan and let the gravy
from the mixture drip into the pan while you roll out your pastry.
- Get a deep
baking dish roughly 22 x 30cm. Spoon the thick leek mixture from your
sieve into the pie dish and spread it out evenly. Roll out 450g shop
bought Puff Pastry until it’s slightly bigger than the dish, lay over the
top of the dish and tuck the overlapping edges down the sides of the pie,
then gently score the pastry diagonally with your knife or add a
decoration with any excess pastry. Add a pinch of salt to 1 Beaten Egg
then paint this egg wash over the top of the pastry. Bake for about 35 to
40 minutes or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown. When the pie
is ready, re-heat the Gravy and serve with your pie, along with some peas
tossed in butter, lemon, salt and pepper.
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