Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie

Ok, so I'm about a week too late with this recipe as Pie Week was last week.  Oh well, if I had it my way every week would be pie week! A dinner that includes some sort of pie is pretty much perfect in my book - flavoursome pie, smooth creamy mash and a few veg on the side - I feel hungry just writing about it.

This particular pie became one of my new favourites when I was sent Innocent's cookbook Hungry? The innocent recipe book for filling your family with good stuff to review last year.  It's so simple but oh so delicious and always a hit whenever I make it.  It also works really well with leftover cooked ham in place of the bacon.  

Chicken, Bacon & Leek Pie
(from Hungry, by the Innocent Smoothie People)

olive oil
2 leeks, trimmed, washed and roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
8 chicken thighs, skinned, boned and chopped into bite-sized pieces
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, roughly chopped
1/2 a small butternut squash, deseeded, peeled and cut into small chunks (I haven't tried it with this yet)
a few springs of thyme
2 tablespoons plain
200ml chicken stock
1 x 500g packet of puff pastry
1 large free-range egg
a splash of milk

1) Preheat your oven to 190c/375f/gas mark 5.

2) Fry the leeks and garlic in a little olive oil over a medium heat for 10-15 minutes.  Remove from the pan and set aside, then put the pan back on the heat.

3) Add a little more oil to the pan and add the chicken and bacon and cook until the chicken starts to brown, then add the leeks, squash (if using), thyme and flour and stir for a few more minutes. Then add the stock and simmer for 10 minutes.

4) Meanwhile, roll out the pastry on a clean work surface dusted with flour until about 5mm thick and big enough to fit over your pie dish.  Beat the egg and milk together and use some of it to brush the edge of the pie dish. Tip the filling into the dish then lay the pastry on top.

5) Use a fork to press the edges of the pastry to the side of the dish, then trim of any excess round the edge.  Brush the top of your pie with the egg and milk and add any decoration that you might want to make with the left over pastry (ensuring that this is brushed with egg and milk too).  Make one or two small holes in the top of the pie to allow any air to escape.

6) Bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown.  Serve with mash and veg of your choice.

You can also make the pie up to the stage just before you brush with egg, then allow to cool completely before freezing.  It will keep for a few months.

Serves 4

Spicy Sausage & Broccoli Tartlets with Roast Cherry Tomatoes

This recipe comes from Books for Cooks, volume 4, a collection of recipes put together by the bookshop of the same name. For more information about what is, in my opinion, one of the best shops in world, have a look at their website here.

I've tried various puff pastry tarts in the past but these ones sounded a bit different. No sauce as such to bind the filling together, just an interesting mix of sausage, tomato, broccoli and spices. I was worried at first that there was too much filling for the pastry but with a bit of gentle stretching and a couple of minor patch-ups I got them into the oven pretty much intact. And, as you can see above, they came out in one piece aswell.

The result was lovely - hearty flavours from the sausage and broccoli, a little bit of warmth from the chilli and a hint of aniseed coming through now and again thanks to the fennel seeds. I'll be making these again.

Spicy Sausage & Broccoli Tartletts with Roast Cherry Tomatoes

(adapted from Books For Cooks Volume 4 - various authors)

375g/12 oz puff pastry

300g/10oz sprouting broccoli, broccoli di rapa or broccoli

3 tbsp olive oil

350g/12oz best meaty pork sausages, skinned

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1/2 tsp fennel seeds

1/4 tsp crushed chilli flakes

12 (about 200g/7oz) ripe cherry tomatoes, halved

Salt & black pepper

4 tbsp freshly grated Pecorino or Parmesan

125g/4oz mozarella, diced

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 handful fresh basil, torn

Extra olive oil to serve

1) Preheat the oven to 200c/400f/gas mark 6. Have ready 2 floured baking sheets

2) Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to a square about 30 by 30 cm (12 by 12 inches). Cut out four equal sized squares from the rolled out pastry. (If you have a box of ready rolled pastry I'd recommend rolling it out a bit further to the size mentioned above, otherwise you might struggle to fit all the filling on)

3) Cut up the broccoli into 2 1/2cm/1 inch pieces and cook in a pan of boiling salted water until just tender, from 2 to 4 minutes. Drain and straightaway refresh the broccoli pieces in plenty of cold water to preserve their nice fresh green colour, then drain well.

4) Warm the oil in a large frying pan over a medium high heat. Stir in the sausage meat, garlic, fennel and chilli. Fry quite briskly, stirring and squashing with a wooden spoon to break up the sausage meat into pieces, until nicely browned, about 5 minutes. Stir in the broccoli pieces and cherry tomatoes halves and cook for another minute to flavour with the herby, spicy oil. Add salt and pepper and any extra chilli to taste (the 1/4 teaspoon of chilli flakes don't give a huge amount of heat so if you like a bit of extra kick then I would recommend you add some more).

5) Divide the sausage mixture among the pastry squares, leaving a 2cm/3/4 inch border, aiming to have a few of the tomato halves on top for the best colour, then sprinkle over the grated cheese. Fold over the pastry border onto the filling, pleating as you go.

6) Bake the tarts until the pastry is crisp and golden, about 20-25 minutes, swapping the baking sheets over half way through baking. Transfer each pie to a warmed plate, sprinkle with mozarella dice, drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil, grind over a little pepper and scatter with basil. Serve at once.

Serves 4