Chicken & Ham Pie
This is a recipe I meant to share with you yesterday but with all of the upset of Todd's fall and everything, I never got around to it. Normally I would make a better presentation of it as well, showing you what you can serve on the side, but again with Todd's fall, that just didn't get done!
Nevermind, its the pie you are here to see. And this is one heck of a tasty pie! Its a great example of making something delicious from what you have at hand to use!
I love the crust for this. It uses a fat combination of lard and butter, along with flour, baking powder, onion salt and milk. Normally I would use all milk, but we are rationing to make our milk last longer and so I used half milk half water, and you know what? It was every bit as delicious as always.
It is a lovely tender and flaky crust, and the onion salt gives it a bit of a savoury flavour that works really well with the fillings.
I had leftover chicken from my roast chicken that we had the other day so I used some of that. I also had a package of deli ham slices in the refrigerator that needed using. Chicken and ham are a very popular pie combination over here, so I thought why not! Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without!
It does use a tin of cream of chicken soup in the fillings also, but no worries if you don't have any. Make a thick cream sauce, using 2 TBS flour, 2 TBS butter, 240ml/1cup of chicken broth and 240ml/1 cup of milk.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, whisk in the flour, cook for a few minutes, then whisk in the broth and milk. Cook, stirring constantly until it thickens and then cook for a few minutes longer. Taste and adjust the seasoning as desired. Let it cool completely before you use. You don't want to melt the fat in the pastry.
There are three layers of pastry in this. A bottom crust. A middle crust between the chicken and the ham fillings. A top crust to tuck it all in nicely. Brush it with a bit of milk, if desired and bake.
That pastry is heavenly and the fillings are pretty tasty also. If you have any pastry trimmings, this is what my mom used to do with them. She would roll them out, spread them with butter, fold in half and then cut into squares. We would enjoy them with soup. Oh so tasty instead of crackers and bread and no waste of anything.
Like I said, normally I would have shown you what to serve with this tasty pie. But today you will have to settle with my recommendations. Todd likes mashed potatoes with his, with peas and gravy. (He is so British.) You could also have oven chips.
The Canadian in me prefers coleslaw or a salad with mine. Yesterday I had pickled beets, due to a lack of salad ingredients in the house.
Truth be told, this pie would be great even on it's own! Tina stopped by yesterday to pick up her CFM printouts on the BOM I had been doing for her and I gave her two slices to take home for her and Tony's supper. She was most appreciative and Todd and I will have the rest for our dinner today! I don't think anyone will be complaining that it is leftovers!
Chicken & Ham Pie
Yield: 6
This is a simple recipe in which a little bit of meat goes a very long way. The pastry is heavenly and altogether this is quite, quite delicious.
Ingredients:
For the chicken filling:
- 250g cooked chicken, cut into small bits (2 cups)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp parsley flakes
- 1/2 (295g)tin of condensed cream of chicken soup (10 3/4 ounce tin)
For the ham filling:
- 250g sliced deli ham chopped (about 8 ounces)
- salt and black pepper to taste
- 1 tsp parsley flakes
- 1/2 (295g)tin of condensed cream of chicken soup (10 3/4 ounce tin)
For the pastry:
- 115g of lard (4 ounces)
- 115g butter (4 ounces)
- 420g plain flour (3 cups)
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp onion salt
- 160ml milk (2/3 cup) (I used half milk, half water)
Instructions:
How to cook Chicken & Ham Pie
- To make the ham filling, mix all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.
- To make the chicken filling, mix together all ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.
- To make the pastry, sift the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Stir in the onion salt. Drop in the fats and rub them in with your fingertips until your mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs with a few pea sized bits. Stir in the milk with a fork to form a soft dough. Divide into three bits, with one bit being larger than the other two. This will be the bit you use to line the bottom and sides of the baking dish.
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/375*F/ gas mark 5. Have ready a 7 by 11 inch rectangular pie baking dish.
- Roll out the largest bit of the pastry on a floured board, using a floured rolling pin, to a size large enough to lie the bottom and sides of the pie dish. It should only be about 1/4 inch thick. Line the dish with this. Spread the ham filling on the bottom of the pastry.
- Roll out another bit of pastry large enough to just cover the ham filling. It should also be 1/4 inch thick. Place on top of the meat. Spread the chicken filling over top.
- Roll out the remaining pastry large enough to cover the chicken filling with a bit of overhang to tuck in the sides. Place over the chicken filling and tuck in the edges all around. Crimp the edges. Brush with a bit of milk and slash to vet the top.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes until golden brown and bubbling. Serve hot and cut into squares. This is delicious!
Normally I would bake a few things sweet/wise for the weekend, but I am trying to make my flour last a bit longer until I know I can get more. I had to bake us a loaf of bread yesterday as well as we had run out. I hope you are all doing well! We can do this! I know we can! 👍👍👍
