Cooking: A pie to warm the heart

As the nights start drawing in and winter gets closer by the day (12 weeks to go until Christmas!!), my dinners tend to change from light salads and stirfries to more belly-warming casseroles and pies. There's something so comforting about pie that just makes everything better, don't you think?!

I thought I'd share with you one my favourite go-to heartwarming dinners - chicken & bacon pie - I'm aware it doesn't sound too impressive and to be honest with you, it's not, but it's totally yummy and perfect for those cold evenings. 

The original recipe can be found here, but over time I've tweaked it and added a few more ingredients!

You will need:
- 1 packet of streaky bacon (cut or scissored into 2.5cm / 1 inch strips) 

- 1 teaspoon garlic infused olive oil 

- 500 grams chicken thigh fillets (cut into 2.5cm/1 inch pieces)
- 50 grams plain flour
- ½ teaspoon dried thyme
- Salt and pepper to season

- 1 tablespoon butter 

- 300 ml hot chicken stock
- frozen peas or canned sweetcorn, which ever you prefer, or both (about half a cup of each)

-  375 grams all-butter ready-rolled puff pastry sheet (23 x 40cm / 9 1/2 x 9½ inch) 

- 1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C / Gas mark 7. In a large pan, fry the streaky bacon strips in the garlic infused oil until beginning to crisp. 

Put the chicken pieces into a bowl and cover with the four, thyme, salt and pepper. Make sure every little piece of chicken is covered in flour.

Add the butter to the streaky bacon pan, and add the flour-covered chicken pieces, including any leftover four from the bowl. Stir everything around in the pan until the chicken begins to colour - it should turn a nice golden brown colour.

Then pour in the hot stock and let this all this bubble away for a few minutes. At this point I add some frozen peas (I have no idea of the quantity) and you can add sweetcorn or mushrooms or whatever!

Stir everything together - you want the consistency to be fairly thick but not stodgy, so if it's too thick then add some more stock and if it's too liquidy then add more flour. A bit of guesstimating!

Pour the pie mixture into a large oven dish and leave to stand for a few minutes. Then unfold the pastry and place the whole pastry sheet ontop of the oven dish, pressing and creasing in the edges so that the pastry is firmly stuck to the rim of the dish. If you have any big bits of pastry at the sides you can tear some off and use to shape into a decorative heart, or letters, to place on the top.

Brush the top of the pie with the beaten egg using a pastry brush. Then pop the pie into the oven! Cook for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and puffed up.

Serve immediately and enjoy with some seasonal veg!

Lydia xxx