members recipes

My homemade Chicken,Asparagus,Mushroom Pie.The inspiration came from Jamie Oliver when he did a chicken Pie on his 30 minute meals.I came up with my own using Asparagus which i was not certain would work,but it came out a real treat.I dislike bought puff pastry of any kind and make my own.It takes no time at all and much more rewarding.

Ingredients
For the Chicken,Asparagus,Mushroom Pie.

A little Olive oil/Knob of butter.
4/5 X 180g Skinless Chicken breasts.
Brunch of Asparagus Sliced.
3 small onions sliced
150g of button mushrooms sliced.
300ml chicken stock.
1 heaped tablesppon plain flour
2 teaspoon of English mustard
2 heaped tablespoon of creme fraiche
2 teaspoon of nutmug

For My Shortcust pastry

450g plain flour
2 tsp of baking pwder
1/2 tsp salt
60g unsalted butter,diced.
60g lard,diced.
1 egg yolk.

Method
1) Put the Chicken breasts on a board and cut into quaters,get rid of any excess fat.
Put a little olive oil and a knob of butter into a large,wide pan.Add the chicken and cook for 3 minutes or so.Make sure all the chicken is cooked,

2) Add the sliced Asparagus, Onions and washed Mushrooms along with a 1 heaped tablespoon of flour and stir.Add 2 teaspoon of mustard.1 teaped tablespoon of creme fraiche and 300 ml of chicken stock and stir well.You can add cornflour to thicken the stock more.

3) Add the seasonng salt & Pepper and 2 teaspoon of nutmug and leave to siimmer.

4) Now for the pastry,briefly mix the flour,baking powder and salt in a food processor.
Add the butter,lard and egg yolk and process until the mixture forms crumbs.Gradually add upto 120ml of cold water(not warm) until a lovely ball of pastry miraculously appears.You can make it by hand of cause,but it works wonders in a food processor.Wrap the pastry in clingfilm and leave to chill in the fridge for a hour so its easier to roll and ready to use.

5) Lightly dust a clean surface with flour and unroll the pastry.Use a small knife to lightly crisscross and score it.Take the pan of chicken off the heat.Tip the filling into a ovenproof didh slightly smaller than the sheet of pastry ( approx 30 X 30) Cover the filling with the pastry sheet,tucking it in at the edges.Quickly beat the egg,then brush it all the top of the pie ( The reason for this is to protect from burning,but at the same timetime it gives it a reall nice golden colour.

6) Put it into a oven,top shelf and cook for around 20/25 minutes.