Chicken and Mushroom pot pies.

[riv_mum]

Makes 4 individual ramekins or 1 large pie.

Time: 30 min

2 tbsp oil

1 onion, halved

3 cloves of garlic

1 large carrot

1 stick of celery

1 bunch parsley

3 bacon rashers, rind removed

300g button mushrooms, sliced

1 large chicken breast, roughly chopped,

1 tbs corn flour

300g water

1 tbsp vegie stock concentrate

60g cream

2 sheets of puff pastry, partially thawed

1 egg, lightly beaten


1.Preheat oven to 180. Place onion, garlic, carrot, celery, parsely and bacon into TM bowl and chop on speed 5 for 2 sec, (Should still be quite chunky)

2. Add chicken and pulse using the turbo button twice.

3. Add oil and mushrooms and saute for 5 min, temp 100, reverse-speed 1

4 Add corn flour mixed in water, stock and cream and cook for a further 3 min, temp 100, reverse-speed 2.

5. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Pour mixture into ramekins or a pie dish and place circles of puff pastry on top to form a lid. Brush with egg wash. Pierce a small hole in the center of each pastry.

7. Bake in oven for 20 min or until golden brown. Serve.


Tips: Cooked chicken or roast meat can be used instead of raw chicken. Process vegies in step 1 until desired texture is achieved and skip step 2. Add chopped cooked meat with mushrooms in step 3. If using cooked meat, this recipe can be made up to step 5 and stored in the fridge for 24 hrs.

Other vegies such as peas or corn can also be added.

members' comments

JD - must have pulsed the chicken too long, too mushy for me.

cottchick - These were just fabulous although making pastry is not for me. I think I will stick with Pampas from now on. Otherwise, gorgeous pies and everyone was happy - very rare in this house with kids ranging from 4 to 15. Judydawn, yes it was quite a fine mix but if you eliminated the pulse and just stirred the chicken in in chunks it should be coarser?

Hally - we all enjoyed it very much. My chicken was put in for the last 3 minutes - so it had already been cooked and chopped into larger lumps. It was a nice winter warmer meal for us. I didn't make pastry - will do one day.

Chelsea - I made these tonight and was a bit disappointed.  I agree that the recipe method could do with some tweaking. Next time I would just saute the onion, garlic and bacon as there were so many ingredients in the bowl that they didn't saute properly and the onion still tasted raw in the finished pies. I would also cook the vegies and stock etc for 5 minutes before adding the diced chicken, mushrooms and cornflour paste and cooking for a further 5 minutes.  When the cornflour is added in the recipe with all of the liquid and only cooked for 3 minutes it doesn't reach temperature.  I had to cook it for a few more minutes to thicken and my chicken was shredded by that stage. Flavour wise we enjoyed them.  I tweaked the ingredients a little by using chicken stock paste instead of vegie stock, sour cream instead of cream and I added a tbsp of mustard for an extra kick.

Bubbles - I made this and it was very tasty. Quite a lot of juices to soak up with bread but that might have been my tweaking. I chopped the chicken, carrot & celery by hand to keep it chunky. Then I tried to follow Chelsea's recommendations. So I sautéed the onion, garlic & bacon at 100 for 5 min, reverse speed 1. Then added the carrot, celery, parsley, vegie stock concentrate and almost all the water, (leaving a bit to mix with the cornflour) cooked for 100 for 5 min, reverse speed 1, then added the last of the water and cornflour mixture, and the chicken and mushrooms, and cooked for another 5 mins, then lastly added the cream for another 2 mins. I found it to be nice and chunky with minimal shredding of my chicken.

[cookie1]

This looks easy and lovely. We're off for a break in May so I may make some and freeze them to take.  In fact I might try it out this week first. Thanks.

[judydawn]

Had these for tea tonight but were disappointed in them. Too mushy for me, I like a chunkier pie. Sorry riv-mum

[riv_mum]

No prob 
I have made these with chicken and left over lamb cut into chunks and found it to be ok.
Can always adjust the chopping time to make it more chunky.

[Thermomixer]

Thanks again RM, sounds like an easy way to get a pie together.

Had these for tea tonight but were disappointed in them. Too mushy for me, I like a chunkier pie. Sorry riv-mum

It may pay to try partly cooking the chicken before pulsing as the texture would be chunkier with cooked chicken rather than the raw.  So,

1. Place onion, garlic, carrot, celery, parsley and bacon into TM bowl and chop on speed 5 for 2 sec, (Should still be quite chunky)

2. Add chicken, oil and mushrooms (cut into chunks rather than sliced) and saute for 5 min, temp 100, reverse-speed 1

3.  Pulse using the turbo button twice ..... then as above

Using the already cooked meat certainly would give it a chunkier taste.

[cottchick]

I'm looking forward to having these for dinner tonight, thanks Riv Mum. I have both raw and leftover cooked chicken in the fridge so just have to decide which to use. Maybe I will do a batch of each.

[Halex]

These look great. Tonight we were having chicken and mushroom val au vents - but we are having these.

Thanks - I am sure they will be fantastic

Hally

[judydawn]

I attempted these over 2 years ago and I'm sure I must have done something wrong as the filling was quite mushed up.  I am wondering if you chop the vegies, remove them and once the chicken has been pulsed, return the vegies to the pan.  Will be interested to see how you both fare tonight and would love to see a picture of a cut pie if possible.   I was pretty green at the time of trying these and probably pulsed too long which caused all the vegies to be overchopped.

[Halex]

Hi JD

I have already cooked and chopped my chicken for the vol au vents, so I wont be having them on turbo.

My camera is stuffed at the moment, so can't take a photo - I am doing individual pies but will certainly let you know how it turns out

Hally

[cottchick]

These were just fabulous although making pastry is not for me. I think Iwill stick with Pampas from now on. Otherwise, gorgeous pies and everyone was happy - very rare in this house with kids ranging from 4 to 15.

Judydawn, yes it was quite a fine mix but if you eliminated the pulse and just stirred the chicken in in chunks it should be coarser?

[judydawn]

Thanks cottchick, I do prefer chunky pies so maybe I should give it another go now that I know what I am doing  .

[Halex]

Hi Judy - we all enjoyed it very much. My chicken was put in for the last 3 minutes - so it had already been cooked abd chopped into larger lumps. It was a nice winter warmer meal for us.

I didnt make pastry - will do one day

Hally

[judydawn]

Sounds like using cooked chicken is the way to go, thanks Hally.

[Halex]

Yes it always works well for me. I had already cooked the chicken for my vol au vents so it was ready.

Plus I cook chicken breasts regularly, I find them always hand to have around, sandwiched for my DS, chicken noodle soup, pizzas, salads, etc - loads of things to throw chicken breast into.

I have a miele oven that cooks food to perfection, so I tend to put a batch in the oven, now I chop them in TN after cooking and freeze in batches and I always have some in the fridge for lunches.

Hally

[Chelsea (Thermie Groupie)]

I made these tonight and was a bit disappointed.  I agree that the recipe method could do with some tweaking. Next time I would just saute the onion, garlic and bacon as there were so many ingredients in the bowl that they didn't saute properly and the onion still tasted raw in the finished pies. I would also cook the vegies and stock etc for 5 minutes before adding the diced chicken, mushrooms and cornflour paste and cooking for a further 5 minutes.  When the cornflour is added in the recipe with all of the liquid and only cooked for 3 minutes it doesn't reach temperature.  I had to cook it for a few more minutes to thicken and my chicken was shredded by that stage. Flavourwise we enjoyed them.  I tweaked the ingredients a little by using chicken stock paste instead of vegie stock, sour cream instead of cream and I added a tbsp of mustard for an extra kick.