Chicken Pies
Not one, but two...
A couple of weekends ago we had friends stay with us and I was pleased to present them with their first pie and crumble of the season. If you travel from England to visit us in Ireland, it seems our weather and food will remind you of what you have to look forward to: rain and stodgy (in the best way, I hope) grub.
So, for those readers who are bracing themselves for the darker evenings to come, or those who have already welcomed the wetter weather, here are two terribly easy but tasty chicken pies to warm your evenings.
Slow Cooker Chicken Pie
This is my own mash up of ingredients that works well with a crust on top. This would serve 2-4 people, depending on appetites, and if transferred to a shallow pie dish will leave a portion or two of leftovers to freeze. The beans and potato add bulk to this pie, and makes it particularly budget friendly as it reduces the amount of chicken you need. It also takes no more than ten minutes active prep time, as the slow cooker does the work for you. As readers may know, I cop out when it comes to pastry and buy Lidl/Aldi ready made pastry, which suits us just fine at present.
Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts, diced
400g tin of mixed beans
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2-3 large potatoes, diced
3 carrots, diced
1 celery stick, thinly sliced
1 red onion, diced
1tbsp paprika
1tsp thyme
Pinch of chilli powder
Salt and pepper
Stock cube
100ml water
1 pack shortcrust pastry
Method:
Bung all of the above ingredients (with the exception of the pastry) into the slow cooker and cook on medium for 6 hours.
Transfer the cooked mixture to a pie dish, roll shortcrust pastry over the top, brush with egg or milk, and bake at 200 degrees for 30 minutes, or until golden. Serve with greens.
Chicken and Chorizo Pie
This second chicken pie recipe is not a Portia Original, but one I fully recommend having in your meal rotation. It’s from Rukmini Iyer’s The Quick Roasting Tin and can be found online here. It takes ten minutes or so to prep – what’s not to love?
That’s all from me, for now. Happy start of pie season!
As ever,
Portia