Chicken and Mushroom pie

Chicken and Mushroom pie, originally uploaded by yongtze.

Strictly speaking this is not a real pie. It is essentially creamy chicken and mushroom in a dish with a puff pastry lid. However, with the buttery puff pastry, it is almost as good as the real thing. Since it is relatively simple and equally delicious as a real pie, it won't be long before I make this again for dinner.

Serves 2 hungry adults:

• 2 chicken breast fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1-2 tablespoons butter
• Oil
• 1 whole onion, coarsely sliced
• 150 grams portobello mushrooms, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 3 cloves garlic, coarsely sliced
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• about 1/4-1/3 cup white wine
• about 1/3-1/2 cup chicken stock or mixture of chicken stock and milk
• about 3-4 tablespoons pure cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
• 1 egg yolk

1. Melt butter in a large, heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat. Sear the chicken on both sides until lightly browned (the chicken doesn't have to be fully cooked at this stage). Season with salt and pepper. Do not overcrowd the skillet, cook in batches if required. Remove the chicken once seared and set aside.

2. Add enough oil to the same skillet, reduce the heat to medium, add onion, garlic and mushroom. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the onion has softened and the mushroom is almost cooked. Toss the pan frequently to cook them evenly without burning. Set the mixture aside with chicken.

3. Preheat the oven to 220 degree Celsius. On the same skillet, add a bit more oil if required, add the shallot and lightly fry it for about 30 seconds to 1 minute. Add white wine and cook until the liquid is reduced by half. Add chicken stock or mixture of chicken stock and milk. Bring the liquid to boil. Add chicken, onion, garlic and mushroom back to the skillet. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Check seasoning and add salt and pepper if required. Add the cream and simmer for another 5 minutes or so and turn of the heat. The mixture should not be too watery but with creamy and slightly thick sauce.

4. Invert pie dish on puff pastry and cut the puff pastry around the pie dish. The puff pastry lid should be larger than the top of the pie dish so it can cover the pie dish entirely with the edges folded down the the side of the dish. 

5. Pour the chicken and mushroom mixture into a big pie dish or 2 smaller pie dish. Beat the egg yolk, using a pastry brush, brush the egg yolk on the edge of the puff pastry and cover the pie dish with the puff pastry lid. Firmly press edges of pastry against the side of the dish. Brush the top of the puff pastry lid with the egg yolk. Score the top of puff pastry with a sharp knife in a criss-cross pattern.

6. Bake the pie in the oven for about 25 minutes or until the pastry has turned golden brown. Serve hot.