Roast Chicken and Cider Pie

If you want to watch more live episodes of Peter Sidwell's Kitchen make sure you visit the FACEBOOK PAGE and join us every Saturday morning at 9am

It’s always good to have a few recipes up your sleeve for using up leftovers. Chicken pie, for me, is one of the ultimate comfort food recipes. I love the whole process of using up leftover roast chicken from our Sunday dinner. More often than not I will roast a large chicken to make sure there is plenty left over as its a big family favourite. Sometimes I think I like the pie more than the roast dinner!

Makes 1 large pie or 6 individual pies Ingredients For the pastry 350g Plain flour 170g Salted butter, diced and cold from the fridge 4-5 tbsp Ice cold water approx 4 Slices pancetta, diced 1 White onion peeled & diced 2 Garlic cloves, chopped 1 tbsp Fresh rosemary and thyme, chopped 1 Medium roast chicken 50g Plain flour 50g Butter 500ml Dry cider 400ml Chicken stock Freshly milled black pepper 1 Beaten egg for glazing the pastry

Here’s how: To make the pastry, rub the flour and butter together to form a crumble type texture. Add the ice cold water a little at a time until it forms a dough. Roll the pastry into a ball and place in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes. Resting the pastry in between each stage is vital to making perfect pastry. Place the pancetta and garlic into large shallow pan and cook with the chopped onions until the pancetta becomes golden and crispy and the onions are soft. Scatter in the chopped herbs. Add the butter and flour, stirring together. As the butter melts it will create a roux (flour and butter paste for your sauce). Pour in the cider and chicken stock, continuing to stir. Season with a little fresh black pepper and heat the sauce gently. When the sauce thickens, add the cooked chicken. Only stir together only a few times as you don’t want to break the chicken up. Remove the filling from the heat and put to one side to cool a little before making into pies. Divide the pastry into 2 equal portions if you are making a large pie or 12 portions if you have opted for the 6 individual pies. Roll out the base pastry so that it is big enough to completely line the inside of the pie dish. The pastry needs to hang over the sides a little. Roll out the remaining pastry for the top of the pie. Brush the edges of the lined pie dish with beaten egg before adding your pie filling. Top with the remaining rolled out pastry and press the edges together. Trim with a knife cutting against the pie tins, then crimp the edges to create a pattern and a good seal.

Brush the tops of the pies with the remaining beaten egg for a nice golden glaze. Using a sharp knife, pop a hole in the top, this will allow steam to escape and prevent the pie from bursting while baking. Bake in a pre heated oven at 170c for 30 minutes for individual pies and 45 for a large pie or until the pastry is golden and crisp. These pies with freeze really well before being baked, just make sure you thaw them out fully from the freezer before baking Serve with a cool glass of crispy dry cider or a chardonnay.