Chicken and Leek Pie

Ingredients

• 2 cups Plain flour
• 1 cup FInely grated parmesan
• 150 grams cold butter, chopped
• 1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon cold milk
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 chicken thigh fillets, chopped (about 900g)
• 40 grams butter
• 2 small leeks, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons thyme leaves
• 1/4 cup plain flour
• 2 cups milk
• sea salt and pepper
• Egg or milk wash

Directions

1. Prepare your shortcrust parmesan pastry.  The recipe says to prepare twice this much, but I’m sure I only did one quantity and it was sufficient.
2. Place the 2 cups fo flour, cheese, 150g of butter and salt into a food processor and process for 1-2 minutes until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
3. Add the egg and milk and process for another 2 minutes until a smooth dough forms.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 180*.
6. In a large frying pan heat the olive oil over a medium heat.
7. Cook the chicken in batches until golden and cooked through.
8. Remove from the pan and set aside, keeping warm.
9. Turn the heat down slightly.
10. Add the butter, leeks, garlic and thyme to the pan and cook for around 7-8 minutes or until softened.
11. Add the flour and cook out the flour taste for about 2 minutes.
12. Then add the milk, salt and pepper and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring, until thickened and no lumps.
13. Return the chicken to the pan and refrigerate until completely cool.
14. Try to avoid dunking bread into the mixture while it is cooling on the bench.  Fail but enjoy the delicious taste of failure.
15. Take your pastry out of the fridge and split in half.
16. Lightly grease your 31cm pie tin (cooking spray works fine).
17. Roll half of  the pastry out between 2 sheets of non-stick baking paper (this makes it much easier to line the tin).  Your want your pastry to be around 3mm thick.
18. Line your pie tin with the pastry and push into edges.
19. Fill with the cold chicken mixture.
20. Roll the remaining pastry out between the sheets of baking paper to 3mm thick.
21. Place on top of the pie and trim any excess pastry.  Use excess pastry to make crispy decorations on top of the pie (optional).
22. Brush with an egg or milk wash and bake for 35-40 minutes until the pastry is flaky and golden.