Chicken, Bacon and Vegetable Pie

In honour of British Pie Week I wanted to share a favourite pie recipe from our family that usually makes the most of the leftover roast chicken from a Sunday dinner.

You can use any vegetable you like – I’ve used leeks, peas and carrots here, but I’ve thrown in sweetcorn, broccoli and cauliflower before now and they all work well. 

Using up leftover meat is a win, win, as it makes it a speedier dinner whilst avoiding food waste. I have no shame in ALWAYS buying shop bought pastry - I sadly don't have a Kitchenaid or otherwise, nor the time to knock it up by hand. 

The gravy is a rich and unctuous one with a hint of creaminess from milk, but mostly made with chicken stock, so you needn't feel too guilty. 

Serve with a heap of vegetables, and your choice of buttery mash potato or chips – don’t go all healthy, if you’re having pie, you may as well go the whole hog. 

Chicken, Bacon and Vegetable Pie

Here’s how:

• 250-300g cooked chicken,
• 3 rashers smoked bacon
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 100ml milk
• 300ml chicken stock 
• 2 leeks
• 1 large carrot
• 1 cup peas
• 1 tsp mustard powder
• Freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• Black pepper & Sea salt
• 1 sheet ready prepared shortcrust pastry (Jus Rol or a supermarket brand is fine)
• 1 sheet ready prepared puff pastry
• 1 egg

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180◦.

Roughly chop the chicken and set aside for now.

Slice the leeks, and peel and dice the carrot and set aside with the peas.

Now chop the bacon into small pieces and add to a pan to fry in their own fat. If not enough fat is present, add a little of the butter.

While the bacon is cooking make up your chicken stock (unless you are using fresh – in which case remove it from the fridge), and measure out the milk.

Grab a whisk so you have it ready for making the sauce.

Once the bacon is cooked off, use a slotted spoon to remove it and place into a bowl for now.

Add the leeks to the pan and allow to soften well – cook for a good 4-5 minutes until soft.

Now add the carrots and allow to cook for a further minute. Using the slotted spoon again, remove the vegetables from the pan and place into the bowl with the bacon.

Add the remaining butter to the pan, which as it’s hot should melt pretty quickly. Add the flour to make a roux and immediately begin whisking to prevent a lumpy sauce.

Once it resembles a thick paste, then firstly add the milk a little at a time, whisking constantly until the paste takes on the liquid and it becomes one.

Once all of the milk has been added, do the same with the stock, whisking all the time.

Now add the mustard powder, and season, still whisking as you go. Go gentle on the salt as bacon and the stock will have salt, but be generous with the black pepper to flavour.

Grate over some nutmeg to taste – I like a lot.

Now use a wooden spoon to continue stirring and allow the sauce to cook out for five minutes or until it has become thick and glossy.

Once the sauce has achieved the required consistency, return the bacon, leeks and carrots to the pan, with the peas and the chicken and stir well to coat everything. Now add the dried thyme and after a couple of minutes, taste to judge if you need any further seasoning.

Once happy allow to cook for a further few minutes, then remove from the heat.

Now generously grease the pie dish all over and simply lay the shortcrust pastry down pressing into the folds of the dish so it hangs over.

Spoon in the pie filling into the centre and evenly distribute in the pie plate. 

Beat the egg and use a pastry brush to coat all around the edge of the pie crust.

Now simply place the puff pastry sheet over the top of the shortcrust pastry – it will overlap quite a bit. Now use your thumb and press down on the pastry edge to crimp, placing a thumb mark down all the way round, one after the other. 

Chicken, Bacon and Vegetable Pie

Once crimped, then carefully trim away the excess pastry. If you’re feeling creative, you can roll this back out and cut into a pretty shape or the words Pie.

Brush all over with the egg wash and make a couple of small incisions in the pastry – ensuring you cut right through, to make sure the steam can escape and doesn’t leave you with soggy pastry.

Place into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the pastry is well risen and golden brown.

Remove from the oven and serve with your choice of accompaniments. Enjoy!

Chicken, Bacon and Vegetable Pie

Here are a few more of our family's favourite pie recipes;

Beef and Lentil Filo Pie

Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie

Squash and Goat's Cheese Pie

Steak and Ale Pot Pie

Cheese and Vegetable Pie

Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie

Today marks the start of British Pie Week, a celebration of the humble pastry coated dish and to kickstart a week of flaky (and otherwise) posts and re-posts here is the recipe for our classic Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie.

With just a puff pastry topping, it is slightly less calorific, but still has all the comforting qualities; a rich and satistfying filling with a golden flaky pastry ton top, and more importantly it’s universally popular. I’ve added a little thyme here as it such good friends with both chicken and mushrooms, but tarragon instead makes for a beautiful variation too.

The below feeds a family of four comfortably and you can serve with just a selection of vegetables, or the classic mash potato or even chips of you’re really feeling naughty.

Here’s how:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil 
• 2 rashers smoked bacon 
• 1 red onion 
• 1 clove garlic 
• 2 tbsps plain flour 
• 2 large chicken breasts 
• 250g mushrooms 
• 1 tbsp dried thyme 
• 350ml chicken stock 
• 200ml milk (use full fat for the rich and creamy texture) 
• Black pepper 
• 1 pack pastry 
• 1 egg Firstly peel and dice the onion and mince the garlic and set aside for the moment. Wash and slice the mushrooms and set aside.

Now pour the vegetable oil into a pan and place on a medium heat.

Now cut the bacon into small squares and add to the pan until crisp on both sides, turning as you need to.

As the bacon cooks, cut the chicken into small, bite-sized pieces.

Remove the bacon from the pan and set aside and now add the chicken to cook in the bacon fat and oil. Just allow to colour to white in each side, and remove from the pan and sit with the bacon.

Now add the onion and garlic to the pan and allow to saute. As soon as the onion is soft stir through the flour, which will make a bit of a paste, which will act as the thickener for the sauce.

Now add a few tablespoons of the stock to the onions and keep stirring rapidly, for a minute then repeat until all of the stock is added, then do the same with the milk, keeping the rapid stirring up constantly to ensure the sauce comes together. It will be quite thin at this point, but don’t be tempted to add anything to thicken, it will do so in the cooking process.

Now return the chicken and bacon to the pan, and season with black pepper (you can season with salt here, but the salt from the bacon should be sufficient, particularly if you’re cooking for children like I am) and add the thyme and give a good stir.

The filling for the Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie

Now pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

Put on a low heat and cook for twenty minutes, by which point the sauce will have started to thicken up.

After twenty minutes, spoon all of the chicken mixture into a pie dish and allow to cool for fifteen minutes, again, this will allow for the sauce to thicken slightly more.

Now roll out the puff pastry, or if you have bought a sheet, simply place over the pie dish, and then use your hands to scrunch the pastry underneath the rim of the dish, then cut away the extra.

Now use your thumb all the way round to squeeze underneath and ensure it doesn’t fall off during the cooking.

With the excess pastry, you could make any pattern you choose, Bridget wanted to use her biscuit cutters and we added four hearts to ours.

Now crack an egg into a mug or small bowl and whisk. Then brush it all over the pie with a pastry brush to ensure it goes a lovely golden brown. The final thing to do is to make two or three slashes in to the pie topping to ensure the steam from the pie filling is able to escape, and so the puff pastry rises well and is flaky rather than soggy.

Place into the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry is well risn and a lovely shade of golden brown. Enjoy!

Creamy Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie 

Here’s some other pie recipes:

Squash and Goat's Cheese Pot Pie

Beef and Lentil Beef Pie

Steak and Ale Pot Pie

Cheese and Vegetable Pie

Leftover Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Creamy Leftover Chicken and Mushroom Pot Pie

This recipe is more of a thrown together Monday night dinner, perfect the day after cooking roasted chicken. 

It's quick and easy to prepare but delivers on flavour and comfort-food credentials. I can admit to never making my own puff pastry, instead I rely on shop-bought, and for this kind of meal it is utterly perfect. I only add a pastry lid too rather than all round the pie, to keep the calorie count down a bit.

Also I use dried tarragon rather than fresh, which always goes so well with chicken and adds a lovely, slightly aniseed element. 

Whilst it's a thick and creamy centre, this is created by making a quick roux, rather than the addition of any cream and I serve simply with vegetables and perhaps a sweet jacket potato - all very low rent. 

This serves 3-4 people.

200g leftover chicken

1 red onion

200g mushrooms (I used Chestnut as I had them in the fridge, but you can use any combination)

1 clove garlic

2 tbsp white wine (I used Pinot Grigio as it was open in the fridge - but use what you have in stock - also a splash of either sherry or brandy would work as well)

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp plain flour

1/2 pint milk

1 tbsp tarragon (I use dried)

Pinch of sea salt

Pinch of black pepper

Sheet of puff pastry

1 tbsp milk

Firstly pre-heat the oven to 180-200.

Slice the red onions and mushrooms and crush the garlic. Add the onions and garlic to a pan with a drizzle of olive oil on a low heat and allow to soften. Add the mushrooms and the wine, sherry or brandy and cook until the alcohol has cooked off and then remove from the heat.

Cut the chicken into bite sized pieces, or shred if easier and add to the pan with the onions and mushrooms. 

In a different pan add the butter on a low heat and allow to completely melt. Add the flour a little at a time and stir continually with a wooden spoon, keep adding more until it's all combined and then slowly add the milk in the same method, stirring all the time. Add the salt, pepper and tarragon and keep cooking on a low heat for ten minutes or until the sauce has thickened. This is your roux.

Transfer the chicken, mushrooms and onion mixture to the roux, stir through to combine and then transfer the mixture to your preferred pie dish or other oven-proof dish. 

Place the pastry over the top, then cut off the excess around the edges. Crimp the sides any way you prefer and then brush the 1 tbsp milk over with a pastry brush. Finally with a knife, cut in a couple of slits in the top, to allow the steam to rise through the pastry during cooking. 

Place into the oven for 25-30 minutes, or until the pastry is nicely golden. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for a few minutes as the centre will be piping hot. Then serve with your preferred accompaniments and enjoy!