Nothing beats the crisp pastry topping of a truly homemade chicken pie. The flavour of cloves often reminds one of the familiar granny pies many of us grew up with.

Serves 4 – 6

Ingredients

• 1 whole ready-cooked, roasted chicken
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) cooking oil
• 1 medium onion, peeled and coarsely chopped 
• 250 g button mushrooms, sliced
• 250 ml (1 cup) chicken stock
• 60 ml (¼ cup) dry white wine, optional
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) chopped fresh rosemary or 5 ml (1 tsp) dried
• 15 ml (1 Tbsp) chopped fresh thyme or 5 ml (1 tsp) dried
• 1 ml (pinch) ground cloves
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 125 g peas, fresh or frozen
• 30 ml (2 Tbsp) cake flour, dissolved in a little water
• 800 g frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 1 extra large egg and 30 ml (2 Tbsp) milk, beaten, for glazing 

Method

1. Break chicken meat off the bones and cut into smaller pieces.

2. Heat oil in a large heavy-based pot. Sauté the onion and mushrooms for a few minutes until just soft.

3. Add chicken pieces, stock, wine, herbs, cloves and seasoning. Simmer for about 10 minutes. Add peas. 

4. Thicken the sauce with flour and water if needed and set mixture aside to cool completely.

5. Roll 400 g pastry out onto a surface dusted with flour, to a thickness of about 3 mm. Layer base of a 24 cm pie dish, sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Cover with greaseproof paper and top with beans or rice. Bake blind for about 5 minutes in a preheated oven at 200 °C. Remove beans and bake for a further 5 minutes.

6. Spoon chilled chicken filling onto base. Roll out remaining 400 g pastry and cover the filling completely. Pinch pastry edges or use fork to press and seal. Use left-over pastry to cut any shapes to decorate, or long strips to make lattice. Brush pastry top with egg and milk glaze.

7. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown.

Tips

• Make a little hole in the pastry (under decoration leaves) for the inside steam to escape.
• A whole chicken can also be cooked or about 800 g chicken pieces to replace ready-made chicken.
• Baking bottom pastry blind ensurees a crisp base.

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