No one can resist a delicious pie. While apple pie usually ranks as the top favorite, chicken pie comes at a very close second.
Why is a chicken pie recipe such a popular dish for homemaker and their families? For one, chicken pie can already be considered as a complete meal because of the proteins and carbohydrates that you can derive from the chicken meat and crust, respectively, and the necessary fiber from legumes and vegetables that you add to the filling.
However, because you can find chicken pies practically everywhere, they have become unfairly labeled as “ordinary” fare. Some not-so-discriminate individuals have even come to claim that all chicken pies taste the same, despite the fact that there are thousands of varieties of chicken pie recipes that you can find on the Internet.
This comment cannot be said of chicken pies made by culinary experts from the leading five-star restaurants in the world today. Just check out the reality cooking shows on TV and you will see Master Chefs transform the humble chicken pie into a gourmet delight.
One good example of a gourmet chicken pie recipe is the Chicken and Mushroom Pie creation of Chef David Coulson in the popular BBC cooking competition show “MasterChef” The Professionals”. Give this recipe a try in your own kitchen and discover the culinary magic that a Master Chef can weave upon a humble chicken pie recipe…
MasterChef David Coulson’s Chicken and Mushroom Pie
Ingredients for the Chicken:
1 large whole chicken
olive oil, for drizzling
salt
freshly ground black pepper
100ml/3½fl oz chicken stock
100ml/3½fl oz Madeira
Ingredients for the Sauce:
25g/1oz butter
2 tbsps vegetable oil
2 small carrots }
1 celery stick } Make sure that these 4 ingredients are finely chopped
1 shallot }
1 clove garlic }
1 leek, cleaned and sliced
100g/3½oz mixed mushrooms (ideally morels and girolles), cleaned and chopped
150ml/5fl oz dry white wine
100ml/3½fl oz double cream
4 large flat mushrooms (remove the stalks)
Ingredients for the Pastry:
225g/8oz ready-made puff pastry
flour, for dusting
1 free-range egg, beaten
Instructions:
1) Preheat your oven to 200C or 400F or Gas 6.
2) With the use of a boning knife, cut off the legs and wings from the chicken and set aside. Carefully carve off the breasts. Drizzle the breasts with a little olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Tightly wrap the chicken breasts in plastic cling wrap and set aside.
3) Arrange your chicken legs on a roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast the legs for 30 minutes, or until they are golden brown and cooked through (poke the thickest part of the leg with a fork or skewer to see if the juices run clear). Baste the chicken as often as necessary while cooking.
3) Unwrap the chicken breasts from plastic cling film. Poach the breasts for 20 minutes (or until cooked through) in a pan of simmering water. Carefully shred the meat inside a bowl and set it aside.
4) Let your Madeira and chicken stock in your small pan simmer for a few minutes before adding the chicken wings. Cook the wings for 20 minutes, or until it is cooked through. Set the wings aside, but keep your cooking stock on reserve.
5) Cook the sauce by heating butter and 1 tbsp of vegetable oil in a pan. Gently fry the carrots, celery, leek and shallot for 4-5 minutes, or until the vegetables begin to soften. Add the garlic and mushrooms together with your remaining oil and gently fry for another 4 to 5 minutes. Pour in the wine and simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir in cream. Put in your shredded chicken leg meat.
6) Arrange your flat mushrooms over a baking sheet and spoon the mushroom sauce on top.
7) For the pastry, start by rolling out with a rolling pin the puff pastry on a floured surface. With the use of a pastry cutter, stamp out circles in the same size as the flat mushrooms that you have arranged on your baking sheet. Place the pastry on a separate baking sheet. Prick the surface with a fork or skewer. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg. Bake this together with the filled mushrooms for 8 to 10 minutes, or until it has risen well and turned golden brown.
8) To serve, cut the chicken breast into thick slices with a knife. Remove all the bones from the chicken wings. Sit the mushrooms on a serving plate. Arrange a pastry circle on top and at an angle. Lay the chicken breast and wing meats alongside. Reheat the reserve chicken stock and Madeira sauce and drizzle over the plate. Garnish the pie with fresh thyme. Serve with creamed potatoes.