Mrs Tweedy's Chicken and Leek Pie is a wonderful winter warmer cooked to perfection in the cast-iron Rayburn ovens.
Ingredients
900lb (2 lb) cold cooked chicken
425ml (15 fl oz ) milk
15 threads of saffron
55g (2 oz) butter
450g (1lb) leeks, fresh of frozen
25g (1 0z) butter
1 clove of garlic, crushed
A little chicken stock
1 x 295g can of Campbell's Chicken and White Wine Condensed Soup
salt and white pepper
150ml (5 fl oz) double cream
3 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon or parsley
450g (1lb) puff pastry
1 egg
A pinch of salt
Method
1. Place the milk in a pan with the saffron and place in lower oven to warm. If using fresh leeks, wash well and chop thinly. Melt half the butter and add the leeks and cook on the simmering end of the hotplate for 7-10 minutes, stirring until softened.
2. Remove the leeks using a slotted spoon and place in the lower oven to keep warm. Add the remaining butter to the pan and stir in the garlic. Add the flour and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring all the time.
3. Gradually add the warmed milk, whisking after each addition, then add the chicken stock and soup. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Finally, add the cream and herbs and a little more milk, if necessary, to achieve a medium-thick coating sauce.
4. Cut the chicken into bite size chunks and stir into the sauce with the softened leeks, then turn the mixture into a large pie dish. Roll out the pastry and cut in to strips to cover the pie, attaching to the edge of the dish with water. Cover the remaining pastry and crimp the edges.
5. Whisk the egg in a cup with a good pinch of salt and brush the pastry. Roll and cut decorative shapes from the trimmings and give a second coating of egg wash. Place in to the main oven on 200 degrees, gas mark 6 and bake on the grid shelf on the fourth set of runners for 25-40 minutes until golden.