Chicken and leek pie

I really do like pies. There’s something special about being able to peek under the edge of a crisp pastry lid to let the aroma of the flavours that have been cooking away in there, escape in wispy tendrils to your nose.
I found some gorgeous leeks in the supermarket so decided to make chicken and leek pie (my supermarket also had fresh thyme – bonus! It always seems that the herb I want is always the one herb they didn’t stock that day).

Ingredients makes one large pie

1. 4 rashers of streaky bacon, diced
2. 1 double chicken breast, skin removed and cut into bite sized pieces
3. 1 large or 2 small leeks, washed and sliced
4. 1 glass dry white wine
5. 1 tbls flour
6. 1 cup hot chicken stock
7. fresh thyme
8. Salt and pepper to taste
9. 1 sheet short crust pastry
10. 1 egg, beaten

Method

1. Preheat oven to 200C
2. Fry the bacon in a large pan until crispy, remove from pan and set aside – keep the bacon fat in the pan
3. Brown the chicken pieces in the bacon fat, remove from pan and set aside
4. Lower the heat and gently sweat the leeks until soft
5. Turn up the heat, add the chicken and bacon and sprinkle the flour over, coating all the ingredients and cook for about 3 minutes
6. Add the white wine and bring to the boil for 2-3 minutes, stirring out any lumps of flour
7. Add enough stock to just cover everything and add the thyme (you can just put the whole sticks in and then remove them later, or pick off the leaves, which I prefer)
8. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes – the stock should have reduced and become a nice gravy
9. Pour the mix into pie dish and cover with the sheet of short crust pastry, pressing down the edges with a fork
10. Slash a few cuts into the pastry to help the steam escape while it’s cooking and to prevent the pastry from going soggy
11. Brush beaten egg over the top
12. Put into preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown
13. Serve hot