Creamy chicken, bacon & leek pie

This is a solid family favourite, a versatile little number that works as well on a rainy weekday as it does for a grand Sunday lunch. It’s also our go to boxing day leftover dish, just replace the chicken with leftover turkey and the bacon with leftover ham and you’re in business. I must admit, as with any good hearty pie, it works best in winter but given that Hurricane Franklin has just past through the state bringing temperatures down and treating us to an unprecedented torrent of rain I jumped at the chance to whip this up for a mid week feast and we were not disappointed. I recommend you do the same whenever the opportunity arises!

Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 1hr 15 mins

Ingredients:

– 500g chicken breasts (cut into chunks)
– 6 rashers smoked steak bacon (sliced into strips) or equivalent in lardons
– 2 large leeks (roughly diced and cleaned)
– 1 small onion or 1/2 a large onion (diced)
– 3 or 4 cloves garlic (peeled, crushed and diced)
– 1 sprig rosemary leaves (finely diced)
– Dash smoked paprika
– Sea salt
– Fresh ground black pepper
– 250g double cream or media crema
– Good olive oil
– Puff pastry
– Egg wash

Method:

1. Sauté the onions, leeks and garlic in a good glug of olive oil over a low-med heat for 15 mins keeping an eye on the heat so that they remain translucent and don’t colour
2. After around 10 mins add the paprika, rosemary, a pinch of salt and a good grind of pepper
3. While the veg is sautéing heat a heavy bottom frying pan with a little olive oil and fry the bacon until crisp
4. Transfer the bacon to a bowl lined with kitchen paper
5. You can then either fry the chicken breast chunks in the bacon juices or clean the pan and fry in a little olive oil (up to you)
6. Cook the chicken until golden and almost cooked through
7. Add the bacon and the chicken (with cooking juices) to the leeks and mix well
8. Add the cream and mix well
9. Pre-heat oven to 200 degrees
10. Transfer your mixture to a pie dish and leave to cool for 5 or 10 mins
11. Roll your pastry on a floured surface and place over the pie, crimp edges and make a cross in the middle to let the steam escape while in the oven
12. Egg wash and place in oven for 30-40 mins or until golden brown
13. Serve with your choice of potatoes and veg, my favs are creamy mashed sweet potato or garlic and rosemary roast potatoes with steamed kale or broccoli

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