This pie is the perfect dinner for early autumn when the days feel as though summer is still clinging to them, but the nights draw in early, bringing a chill that makes us reach for jumpers and hearty plates of food. In the vegetable patch the courgette and oregano plants are pushing through their final harvests of the year, and the perpetual spinach plants are abundant with cut-and-come again leaves. Combined with leftover roast chicken and encased in a generous crust of pastry, these vegetables make a delicious pie filling.
Main INGREDIENTS
- Meat
Ingredients
Method
Ingredients
For the pastry
- 300g plain wholemeal flour
- 200g plain white flour
- A pinch of sea salt
- 250g unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
- 6 tbsp finely chopped fresh oregano leaves
- 80g mature cheddar cheese, finely grated
- 3 tbsp cold water
- 1 large chicken egg, lightly beaten
For the pie filling
- 100g unsalted butter
- 1kg courgettes, coarsely grated
- 300g spinach, roughly chopped
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 600g leftover roast chicken, cut roughly into small chunks
- 3 tbsp plain white flour
- 400ml chicken stock
- 1 small chicken egg, lightly beaten
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Method
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1First make the pastry. Sift the flours and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and lightly rub it into the flour until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs. Gently fold in the oregano and grated cheddar. Sprinkle over the cold water and stir it into the pastry along with the beaten egg. Bring the mixture together to form a green-flecked dough and shape it into a ball, leaving the bowl clean. Wrap the pastry in greaseproof paper and pop in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile grease the Le Creuset 26cm stoneware heritage dish with butter and pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
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2To make the pie filling, melt the butter in a shallow pan over a low heat, then stir in courgettes and cook with the lid on for around 5 mins until the courgettes are beginning to soften. Take the lid off the pan, stir in the spinach and garlic, and cook for a further few minutes until the spinach is tender. Add the chicken, sprinkle over 2 tablespoons of the plain white flour and stir in, then add the stock and bring to mixture up to a simmer. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper and remove from the heat. Take the pastry out of the fridge and cut it in two (one piece slightly bigger than the other). Roll out the larger piece of the pastry into a rectangle and use it to line the stoneware dish. Then roll out the other piece of pastry into a rectangle.
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3Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of flour over the bottom of the pastry lining the pie dish (this will stop the bottom going soggy). Then pour in the chicken and vegetable filling. Cover the filling with the remaining pastry half and roughly crimp the top and bottom edges of the pastry together. Brush the top of the pie with a little beaten egg, make a 1.5cm hole in the top of the pie to let the steam escape, then pop in the oven for around 50 minutes or until the pastry is crisp and golden brown.
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4Take the dish straight to the table to serve, perhaps with some mashed potato on the side.
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5Chef's Notes:
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6Chard or kale are a great alternative to the spinach here if you have some to use up. Be sure to make use of the stalks as well as leaves (finely shredded they will cook down and soften happily in the pie mixture).
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7If you can’t get hold of fresh oregano for the pastry, use 2 tbsp dried oregano instead.
