Makes 4-6 individual serves (Pictured 1 ¾ cup serving dishes)

Ingredients

Filling

• 1.6 kg whole chicken
• 1 swede
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tblsp canola oil
• 2 leeks (from white end to below the green leaves)
• 1/3 (50g) cup plain flour
• 200ml thickened lite cream
• 2 tblsp chopped parsley
• 3 stalks (200g) celery
• 1 egg
• Salt to season

Rough Puff Pastry

(or find a suitable commercial one without preservatives)

• 1 ½ cups(170g) plain flour
• 125g cold unsalted butter
• ¼ cup (60g) sour cream
• ¼ cup cold water

Method

Allow at least 2 ½ hours for filling and pie preparation before placing it in the oven for the final ½ hour cook. Filling can be made the day before.

Chicken filling

• Wash the whole chicken and place it in a saucepan with the peeled, chopped swede and peeled garlic cloves.
• Cover the chicken with water, put on the lid and bring the water to a simmer.
• Simmer, with a partially closed lid, for about 1 hour (or until chicken is just cooked)
• Remove from the heat, place the lid on the pot and leave for 30 minutes in the water to finish cooking.
• Take out the chicken and reserve 1 ½ cups (375ml) of the stock (freeze the rest for use in other dishes).
• When the chicken as cooled a little, shred the chicken from the bones and skin
• Heat the oil in a fry pan and add the leek, season with salt. Stir leek over a medium-low heat for 5-6 minutes, until softened
• Add the celery and stir for 1-2 minutes
• Add the flour and stir through the mixture, stirring for about 1 minute to coat the vegetables
• Pour in the reserved chicken stock and stir for a further 2-3 minutes until the mixture thickened slightly.
• Add the cream, parsley and shredded chicken and mix to combine
• This mixture could be stored at this stage chilled at this stage to make the pie up later.

To make the pastry

Preheat the oven to 2000C. Grease 4-6 individual pie dishes (or one large 26cm x 26cm x 3 cm deep baking dish)

• Chop the butter into chunks and place in a mixing bowl with the flour.
• With your fingertips rub the flour and butter together until large clumps form.
• Add the sour cream and cold water
• Stir until combined but lumps of butter should still be seen
• Tip the mixture onto a lightly floured bench and knead until it all come holds together
• Roll out with a rolling pin to roughly 15cm x 30cm rectangle
• Fold into 3: – Lift the short end of the pastry and fold it just past the middle. Fold the other short end of top of this
• Roll this out again to the same dimensions
• Repeat the folding and rolling 3 more times.
• Roll the final pasty to about 3-4 millimetres high and cut out circles to fit the top of your individual pie dishes. (Turn one serving bowl upside sown and trace around the outside for the dimension)
• Re-roll the scraps of pastry together to complete all the lids
• (or if making a large pie, roll the pastry out large enough to cover the pie dish)

Assembly

• Spoon the chicken evenly into the pie dishes
• (if it has been in the fridge and is completely cold, you may want to heat it in the microwave for about 2 minutes to start the re-heating process, or it may still be cold when the pastry is cooked)
• Lay the pastry over the top, pressing it to the edges
• You can use a fork to press the pastry to the edges of the dish
• Lightly beat the egg and brush the top of the pastry with this
• Bake for 30 minutes or until the pastry tops are golden brown and flaky
• Serve