Chicken and mushroom pie with shortcrust pastry
- Prepare
- less than 30 mins
- Cook
- 30 mins to 1 hour
- Serve
- Serves 3-4
- Dietary
- Nut-freePregnancy-friendly
This comforting, creamy chicken and mushroom pie uses readymade pastry for a quick and easy mid-week meal.
Each serving provides 1190 kcal, 66.9g protein, 64.5g carbohydrate (of which 7.4g sugars), 72.4g fat (of which 28.3g saturates), 6.5g fibre and 2.13g salt.
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 chicken breasts, skinless, cut into bite-size pieces
- 150g/5½oz button mushrooms, quartered
- 1 small onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
- 50g/2oz butter
- 2 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 300ml/½ pint milk
- 200ml/7fl oz chicken stock
- freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
- freshly ground white pepper
- pinch salt
- small handful fresh parsley, chopped
- 500g/1lb 2oz readymade shortcrust pastry
- 1 free-range egg, beaten
Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the chicken and fry until the chicken begins to turn white.
Add the mushrooms and continue to fry until the chicken is golden-brown.
Remove the chicken and mushrooms from the pan and set aside. Add the onion and garlic to the same pan and fry for 2–3 minutes or until softened. Remove from the heat and set aside with the chicken and mushrooms.
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly until it has formed a thick smooth paste (this is called a roux).
Mix the milk and stock together in a jug, then add the nutmeg, white pepper and salt, to taste. Pour the liquid slowly into the flour mixture, whisking all the time until smooth. Simmer over a gentle heat, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes or until the sauce is smooth and thickened.
Stir in the chopped parsley and pour the sauce over the chicken and mushroom mixture. Mix well, then spoon into a pie dish and leave until completely cool.
If using a block of pastry, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it is the thickness of a pound coin. Brush the edges of the pie dish with beaten egg, lay the pastry on top, press down the edges and trim. Brush the top of the pie with beaten egg and cut some leaf shapes out of the leftover pastry to decorate the top of the pie.
Make two or three slits in the top of the pie to allow steam to escape and then bake for 20–25 minutes or until the pastry is golden-brown.
Recipe tips
White pepper is specified in place of black just so you don't get dark specks in the creamy sauce. Feel free to use whatever you have.
For this recipe, use a smallish pie dish suitable for 3–4 servings.
To make a larger pie, double the amount of filling and bake for 10–15 minutes longer. However, bear in mind that pastry sheets are typically about 23cm/9in wide, which can be too narrow for some large round pie dishes so you might need to use a block of pastry. (If you are using an oval or rectangular pie dish, you can still use a sheet of ready rolled pastry).
It's important to cool the filling before adding the pastry. A hot filling will melt the fat in the pastry before it cooks, leaving you with soggy pastry.
The pie filling can be made in advance and kept in the fridge for up to 2 days. Bring to room temperature before adding the pastry and baking. If you add the pastry before there's a chance it will get soggy from being sat on the wet filling.
This pie is glazed with beaten egg to give deep golden brown colour to the pastry. You can use milk instead, but the pastry will be slightly softer and lighter in colour after baking.
