A family favourite: chicken, ham, and leek pie

Chicken, ham, and leek pie - great with mash and green beans!

This article was first written and published in print for The Cherwell, one Oxford's student newspaper. No version is available online, but this recipe is too good not to republish!

We’ve all - somehow - managed to reach the 7th week of term once again, and the glorious five week vacation is drawing near. With it brings the chance for rest and relaxation, it also brings about time to indulge and try a new recipe or two, with this recipe for a warming chicken, ham, and leek pie being perfect to cook for both family or friends. I’ve made this recipe for friends and family on a number of different occasions; each time the plates have returned to the kitchen empty, and there’s been smiles all round. 

It’s a great recipe to have up your sleeve; although a simple recipe in design, I’ve never come across a chicken pie recipe so flavourful and easy to make. Why not give it a try yourself this Vac? Or invite some friends over to cook together?

The recipe I’ve given here is to make four servings, and altogether should take less than an hour and a half from prep to plate. 

Ingredients for the filling

400 ml of chicken stock

3 chicken breasts, diced

150g roughly chopped ham, cut into 2cm pieces - I find that Danish ham works well in terms of texture and chunkiness, but other hams are available. 

75g of butter

2 trimmed leaks, cut into 1cm slices

2 garlic cloves, crushed

60g of plain flour

200ml semi-skimmed milk - any type of milk is fine, but semi-skimmed is a personal recommendation

150ml of double cream

Salt and pepper, to taste

Ingredients for the pastry

350g plain four, with extra for dusting

200g of butter

2 eggs - preferably free range, although each to their own - one should be whisked, and set aside for glazing the pastry later, and the other should be beaten together with a tablespoon of cold water.

Or, if you’re hungry and want dinner to get to the table quickly like me… enough of a section of Jus-Rol premade pastry to cover your pie dish. Shortcrust is an option and nice for getting a crusty top, but I have also used puff pastry when making this before - the crackle it gives as you cut into it makes the most satisfying noise!

For the filling:

First thing’s first: preheat the oven to 200 degrees for non-fan ovens, 170 degrees for fan ovens, or gas mark 6. 

To begin, add the diced chicken breast and cook gently, adding the chicken stock and bring to a low simmer. You want to cook this ideally for about 10-15 minutes, before removing the chicken from the pan and setting the chicken to the side, placing it in a bowl. You want to set the cooking juices aside - this will come in handy for later!

Next, you need a large saucepan in which to melt 25g of the butter. Once it's melted, add in the chopped sections of leek before cooking them gently for two minutes - you want to make sure that everything is cooked evenly, so make sure to give it a little jiggle around in the pan. 

Once they’ve achieved a nice, soft texture, add the garlic and cook for a few more minutes. Next you’ll need to add the remaining butter, and once this has melted add the flour gradually in order to begin thickening the sauce. This is where it gets hands-on; make sure to keep stirring from this point onwards to avoid lumps in your sauce (unless you like it lumpy, of course.)

You’ve added the flour, but you’re not done just yet! Now, start adding the milk into the pan a little at a time, mixing everything all together. Once this is added, allow to simmer for three minutes, stirring occasionally. To taste, add some seasalt and black pepper to the sauce, which now should be thickening nicely. Once this is done, take off the heat and stir in the double cream. Set this mixture to the side now, and make sure to cover it with clingfilm in order to prevent a skin from forming on the top of the pie filling. 

If you’re using premade pastry - now’s the time to roll it out and shape it to the size of your dish. If you’re making your pastry from scratch - add the flour and butter into a food processor and blend together. You’re aiming to get close to a breadcrumb texture, so blitz until the mixture looks quite fine. One you reach this stage, add the beaten egg and water into the blender and blitz once again until it becomes ball-shaped. 

It depends on the size of the dish you’re using, but you now need to portion off enough to make the top covering of your pie - when baking this recipe with my Nana in the past, we normally found that 250g of dough would be enough to cover the top of a 10 inch round pie dish. This depends on what you’ve got in the cupboard for baking this, so it might take a little time to play around and find out what works best for the dish you’ve got. 

With the remaining pastry, roll it out onto a lightly floured surface, making sure to turn the pastry frequently until around 5mm thick and 4cm larger than the pie dish. Now time for the tricky part - you need to lift the pastry over the rolling pin, and try your best to lower it gently into the pie dish. If you’re cooking with a friend, now might be time to ask them to lend a hand!

Once it’s gently tucked into the bowl, make sure to push firmly down on all sides in order to make the pastry base for the bottom of your pie. Ideally you need to make sure there are no air bubbles left over, but one or two little ones won't hurt if this is your first time doing this. Any leftover pastry that hangs over the side of the dish can be left if you’d like the pie to have more of a rustic look to it, but any major overhang can be trimmed off. From here, add your precooked chicken into the dish, then the cooling sauce on top. Make sure the pie filling is spread evenly out across the dish, before coating the rim of the pastry with beaten egg. 

The final touch is to cover the pie with the pastry lid and press the edges together, firmly. Using fingers for this is fine, but if you’d like a more decorative effect then using a fork is also recommended. Before coating the pastry with the beaten egg mentioned earlier, it might be a nice little addition to your pie to add some decorative features from the leftover pastry; I always remember my nan cutting out little holly-leaf decorations from leftover scraps to decorate the centre of pies. I personally enjoy making smiley-faces, love hearts, and even cutting out initials of the people I’m cooking - it’s a small little thing, but it sure does make people smile!

Pop your finished pie into the oven for another 35-40 minutes, making sure to check on it regularly. After time, the crust should go to being a nice even gold-brown cover, and is a great indicator of how close you are to serving. If you and your dining companions aren't too hungry, then the pie itself makes for a great supper - if you’re looking to really make a meal out of this, then this dish is perfect accompanied with parmentier or mashed potatoes and green beans of any description. All that’s left to do is take the pie out of the oven, dish up, and enjoy!