Chicken Pot Pie

I've always preferred savoury pies more than sweet, dessert pies. Savoury pies are more balanced, offer more bites and the possibility of fillings are endless. I found this Jamie Oliver's Chicken Pot Pie recipe while I was browsing through his site and thought I wanted to give it a try. It was a decent and homely pie. We quite like it. 

Didn't manage to get ready made puff pastry so I used butter, flour and water to produce a simple pate brisee to cover the top. It worked, although its not flaky on top. 

The fillings were actually quite delicious. We can eat it on its own happily, with mashed potatoes, or even with rice.  Can't get over the fact that I am a rice person, eh?

Recipe for Jamie Oliver’s Chicken Pot Pie
by Jamie Oliver, taken from suziethefoodie
Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into pieces
2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 sticks celery, finely sliced
3 teaspoons dried thyme or 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
2 ½ tablespoons flour
1 glass white wine (omitted)
1 ¼ cups milk (1/4 cups cream)
salt
pepper
9 ounces good pork sausage (subbed with bacons)
1 lb puff pastry
1 egg

Baking Temperature: 220C/425F
Baking Time: 35 - 40 minutes

Directions
Filling:

1. In a large casserole pot over medium heat add olive oil and butter. Add the chicken, leeks, carrots, celery, and thyme. Cook slowly on the stove for 15 minutes. Turn the heat up, add the flour. Continue to stir for a couple of minutes.
2. Add wine, a wineglass of water, and milk. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and simmer on the stove for 30 to 40 minutes until the chicken is tender. Stir it every so often so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot. The sauce should be loose but quite thick. If it’s a little too liquidy, just continue to simmer it with the lid off until it thickens slightly. You can also add more flour to thicken the sauce. If so, make sure to stir in the flour well so it doesn’t clump. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper. Do not over season as the sausage will be savoury.
3. In the meantime, remove the sausage meat out of the sausage skins, roll it into little balls, and brown them in a separate pan.

Assembling the pie:

1. Preheat the oven to 425F.
2. Pour the chicken stew into an appropriately sized pie dish. Spread the sausage balls evenly over the stew.
3. Roll out your pastry to about 1/4 inch thick. Egg-wash the rim of the dish and drape over the pastry, using a knife to trim the edge of the dish. Egg-wash the top of the pastry to make it go golden while cooking, then pinch it to crimp it round the edges if you can. Use the back of a knife to lightly crisscross the top for decoration. This allows the pastry to go crisp and flaky. Cook the pie in the center of the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, until golden on top.

I am still swamped up with work, and with the looming deadline, life is stressful. But hey, like what Young Agent K said in Men in Black 3, "if you got a problem that you can't solve, helps to get out of your head. Pie, it's good." So, I am eating pie and hopefully some of my problems will be solved.

Today's pie is for Bake Along No. 29: Theme - Chicken Pie, hosted by Joyce from Kitchen Flavours, Lena from Frozen Wings and Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids.

I am also sharing this stress relieving pie with Cook Like A Star: Jamie Oliver hosted by Zoe from Bake for Happy Kids.