Chicken pie

Ingredients

• 450 – 500g chicken breast fillets or chunks
• 1 large or two small onions
• 3 thick rashers of bacon cut into bite-size pieces or small pack of diced bacon
• 1 pack of button mushrooms
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil or chicken fat
• 2 dessert spoons of flour
• 12 fl oz chicken stock (stock cube dissolved in 12 fl oz of hot water)
• Small pinch of thyme
• Ground pepper to taste
• Sheet of ready-made puff pasty, preferably all-butter
• Beaten egg

Method

Chop and fry the onions and bacon in the olive oil or chicken fat until lightly browned. Spoon these out and put to one side, then fry the chicken until it shows some light browning, then do the same with the mushrooms.

Put all the ingredients back into the pan, add thyme and pepper, then remove from the heat. Add two dessert spoons of plain flour, and then add the chicken stock whilst gently stirring Return to the heat and stir until the sauce thickens. The aim is to arrive at a rich creamy sauce.

As soon as the sauce has thickened, transfer to a shallow baking dish. Lay the pastry sheet lightly onto the sauce and fold in the edges. Pierce the pastry a few times to allow steam to escape. Brush with beaten egg.

Cook in oven at 200˚C for ½ an hour, or until the pastry has browned up nicely.