Chicken and Leek Pies

I once wrote in my cookbook that this recipe reminded both Lyndon and I of the old KFC Chicken Pie's they sold many (many) years ago... Monet actually ate this pie (she takes after her dad!) but she did pick out the peas and corn kernals (which I add!)

*Taken from the Murdock Book 'Fast Food'*

Ingredients

60g butter, 1 leek, thinly sliced

4 chicken breasts (about 200g each), cubed

50g plain flour

1 cup (250ml) chicken stock

300ml cream

1 cup fresh or frozen peas, blanched

1 sheet ready-rolled puff pastry, thawed

Method

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and cook the leek for 2-3 minutes, or until soft. Add the chicken and cook for 45 minutes (I cooked for about 10-15 mins), or until cooked. Add the flour and cook, stirring, until it starts to bubble. Add the stock and cook until the mixture starts to thicken. Add the cream, reserving 1 tablespoon to glaze the pastry. Cook until the mixture just starts to boil. Stir in the peas. Season. Remove from the heat. Preheat the oven to moderately hot 200c.

Divide the filing among four individual pie dishes or ramekins. Top with a circle of pastry, cut just bigger than the top of the dish, then press around the edges to seal. Brush the surface with the reserved cream. Make a small slit int he top to allow steam to escape. Place the dishes on a metal tray and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden. Serve with a green salad.

Serves 4

Roasted Vegetable and Gruyere Pasties

I couldn't find celeriac anywhere so I used some sweet potato instead. I also couldn't find Gruyere cheese (! I know!!) so I used some good old tasty. No jap pumpkin here either, so I used Kent (which I prefer anyway!) I don't own a food processor, so I used my mix master on extra low speed, using dough hooks, to mix the pastry together. But after all that, it was pretty simple really.

*Taken from Karen Martini's 'Where The Heart Is'*

Ingredients
Pastry
3 1/3 cups (500g) plain flour
1/2 tsp table salt
3 tbs olive oil
1 cup (250mls) cold water

Filling
3x2 cm slices jap pumpkin, cut into 1 cm pieces
2 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 cm pieces
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 cm pieces
3 parsnips, peeled and cut into 1 cm pieces
1/2 celeriac, peeled and cut into 1 cm pieces
70ml extra virgin olive oil
salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
5 golden shallots, peeled and sliced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 leeks, trimmed and finely sliced
1 tsp ground fennel
5 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, chopped
150g grated Gruyere
1 egg, lightly beaten
100g ricotta
1 extra egg, beaten with 1 tbs olive oil
sesame seeds (optional)

Method
Preheat oven to 165C. For the pastry, combine flour and salt in a food processor and, with motor running, drizzle in olive oil. Add water and pulse until mixture just comes together. Knead gently on a lightly floured work surface, then wrap in plastic film and place in the fridge for 2 hours.

To make the filling, combine the pumpkin, carrot, potato, parsnip and celeriac, in a large baking dish. Add 50 mls of the olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast vegetables for 1 hour, turning occasionally. Turn off oven and leave vegetables inside for 1 hour (they should shrink and intensify in flavour).

Heat remaining olive oil in a large saucepan over low-heat. Add shallots, garlic and leek and cook for 8-10 minutes or until soft and caramelised. Stir in ground fennel and parsley. Add roasted vegetables and stir gently to combine. Stir in Gruyere and beaten egg. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

Preheat oven to 200C. Divide pastry into 4 pieces, making 2 slightly larger than the others. Roll the 2 larger pieces on a lightly floured surface to 5 mm-thick ovals. Spread vegetable mixture evenly on each, leaving a 2 cm border. Scatter ricotta over vegetables. Roll remaining pastry into 2 thin ovals and cover vegetables. Press and twist edges of pastry to seal and glaze tops by brushing with beaten egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, if using, and salt and pepper. Place pasties on a large baking tray lined with baking powder. Bake for 25-30 mins or until cooked and golden. Remove from oven and leave for 10 minutes before serving. Makes 2 large pasties.

Serves 6-8 as a light lunch

Spinach, Herb, Rocotta & Fetta Filo Pastry Pie

A relatively easy recipe to prepare. I cheated and used pre-packaged frozen spinach... Can be eaten hot or cold and served with Tzatziki. To be honest with you I wasn't a big fan of it - maybe there was too much spinach for my liking and not enough cheese. Next time I'd probably cut down the spinach to 500g and increase the ricotta to 500g. But that is just my opinion. The biggest surprise though was that Lyndon actually really liked it. He normally doesn't like things like this...

*Taken from (you-guessed-it) Karen Martini's 'Where The Heart Is'*

Ingredients
150ml extra virgin olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbs capers, chopped
800-900g spinach (with stems), coarsely chopped
4 sprigs mint, leaves picked and torn
4 sprigs oregano, leaves picked and torn
4 sprigs flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked and torn
2 eggs, lightly beaten
250g ricotta
120g fetta, crumbled
salt flakes and freshly ground black pepper
12 large sheets filo pastry
2 tsp ground fennel seeds

Method

Heat 50ml of the olive oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook for 2-3 minutes. Add capers and half the spinach and cook for 4-5 minutes. Drain in a colander and press out excess liquid. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Add a little more oil to the pan and cook herbs and remaining spinach until wilted. Drain in a colander and press out excess liquid. Add to bowl. Stir eggs, ricotta and fetta into spinach mixture and mix well. Season.

Preheat oven to 165C.

Grease a round 20cm cake tin and line the base with baking paper. Keep the filo covered with a damp towel while working so it doesn't dry out. Place two pastry pastry sheets on a lightly floured surface and brush with olive oil. Repeat twice more. Place half the spinach mixture along the center of pastry and roll length ways. Place roll in a circle around the inside of the cake tin. Make another roll with remaining pastry and spinach mixture. Place in cake tin and wind around to completely cover the base of the tin. Brush with olive oil, scatter with fennel seeds, salt and pepper. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until golden. Cool before serving.

Serves 6