Freshly made pies with tomato sauce
It was my turn recently to host Biteclub. Nothing excites me more than preparing a winter feast for 12! I made fresh pies! There were two types on offer. A chicken, leek and vegetable pie made with a silky smooth cream sauce and a robust red wine, beef and mushroom one. I served them with pea mash and some good quality store bought tomato sauce. I’ll break up my recipes for my Biteclub over a few posts.
Pies with pea mash
As you may recall, I recently purchased a pie maker and I have been playing around with mixed results. I should be known as the official pie maker of Sydney! Anyway here are two different types I made the other night. The recipes have been adapted from Stephanie Alexander’s “The Cooks Companion”. I, of course played around with the recipes and changed bits and pieces here and there.
RECIPE FOR CHICKEN LEEK AND VEGETABLE PIES
500 g of Chicken thigh fillets chopped up in small amounts
300 g of Italian Pancetta
3 large leeks
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 cup of Chicken stock
1/2 cup of thin pouring cream
1 cup of milk
a handful of freshly chopped continental parsley
seasoned flour for the chicken
butter for frying
Now as you can see the list is not low fat! But very delicious and comforting for this dreaded winter of ours! Roll the chicken thigh fillets in seasoned flour and fry in batches in butter. Remove and set aside.
In the same pot fry the pancetta with a little olive oil and add the finely diced carrot, celery and sliced leeks. Keep the temperature to medium as we don’t want to burn this mixture. When the ingredients appear translucent, add the previously fried chicken thigh fillets to this mixture and give it a good stir. Add the milk, cream and stock and allow to simmer for about 20 mins. The mixture will be generously thick. Finally add the chopped parsley and stir through. Take it off the heat and allow it to cool thoroughly.
My pie maker provides the moulds to cut out the tops and bottoms. I used a ready made short crust pastry for the base and puff pastry for the top. If you dont have one of these beauties just place the chicken mixture into a pie tin and cover with puff pastry. Brush it with a little beaten egg and cook it in a moderate oven (about 180 deg C) for 20 mins.
RECIPE FOR PEA MASH
This is so easy to make! You can either use fresh peas or frozen ones. I used fresh peas that I blanched lightly in chicken stock with some fresh mint. After it was heated through I drained the stock and whizzed the peas and mint in a food processor along with a couple of tablespoons of creme fraiche, freshly ground pepper and sea salt. I wanted a slightly chunky mixture. It all depends on how you like your mashed peas.
Dollop the mash over warm pies and smother with a good store bought tomato sauce or relish.
Pies again
Happy eating!
Pete
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