Chicken, Mushroom and Leek Pie

Time to document another recipe from the Irish Pub Cookbook!

If you peruse back earlier in the past month I documented my attempted at Om Ali. This required the purchase of filo dough. I had only used half the filo dough, so when I saw that the Potato, Leek and Chicken Pie was covered with filo dough instead of potatoes that it was a great way to use the rest of the filo. 

Here is what I used:

1 large potato (cubed)

1 medium turnip (cubed)

1 lb chicken breast (cubed)

8 Tbs butter

3 cup sliced mushrooms

2 medium leeks (the two in the picture were a little big so I used 1.5)

4 Tbs flour

1 cup whole milk

1 cup half and half

2 Tbs Dijon mustard

4 tsp sage

8 oz filo pastry (thawed)

Most of the required ingredients.

Here is what I did:

Boil the cubed turnips and potatoes for 5 minutes to cook. You can do this up to a couple days ahead of time if you store the cooked potato in the refrigerator.

In a large shallow pan melt 1/2 the butter and brown the chicken.

Browning Chicken

While the chicken browns, slice the cleaned mushrooms and cut the leek into 1 inch slices.

Slicing cleaned mushrooms

All cut!

Leeks and Mushrooms

Once the chicken has browned add the mushrooms and leeks cook for ~ 3 minutes. (In future iterations of this dish I might wait to add the leeks).

Leeks and mushrooms added to the browned chicken 

Add the 4 Tbs of flour and gently incorporate, cook for 1 minute.

Adding the flour

Gradually stir in milk, stirring continuously, and bring to a boil.

Adding the milk

Add the mustard, sage, potatoes and turnip and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir and then simmer the whole thing for 10 minutes.

Adding potatoes, mustard and sage - thicken

Melt the rest of the butter (I usually just use the microwave). Using a pastry brush, paint the bottom of the pan with butter. Layer filo dough (4-6 sheets). Paint the top with butter.

Filo dough painted with melted butter

Add the chicken mixture on top the filo dough.

Add chicken mixture on top the filo dough

Layer 2 sheets at a time with most of the remaining dough, reserve several sheets. Paint with butter every other sheet.

With the remaining filo dough crumple sheets on top and gently paint with butter, until the entire surface is covered. If you need more butter use it or else the filo won't turn a beautiful golden brown and the entire dish will look a little sad and under cooked when it is finished.

Put the dish in a pre-heated 350 F oven.

Into the Oven!

Bake for 45 minutes - until the mixture is boiling and the filo is golden brown and crispy!

All done!

It is pretty close to the picture!

We were pretty hungry and it smelled so good we forgot to take pictures of our plates including the lovely salad I threw together to pair with it! We had lots of left overs that re-heated really well in my opinion and I had lunch for a week from it!

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! Happy Cooking!

Recipe:

1 potato

1 turnip

8 Tbs butter

1 lb chicken

2 leeks

3 cups mushrooms

4 Tbs flour

1 cup whole milk

1 cup half and half

2 Tbs mustard

3 tsp sage (best to use fresh but dried will also work)

8 oz filo pastry

salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. In a pot boil the cubed potatoes and turnips for 5 minutes. Drain water and set aside.

Melt half the butter in a large pan and brown chicken (approximately 5 to 8 minutes)

Add the sliced leek and mushroom and cook for 3 minutes. Add the flour and stir for 1 minute. Gradually stir in milk and half and half. Bring the milk to a boil. Then add mustard, sage, potatoes and turnip. Season with salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes.

Melt the remaining butter. Paint the bottom of a large baking dish with butter, layer 6 sheets of the filo dough on the bottom of the pan. Paint the top with butter. Then cover with the chicken mixture. Layer 2 sheets at a time painting every other sheet with butter. Crumble the last of the dough on top and paint with butter. Bake for 45 minutes in the pre-heated oven.

Chicken soup (For when an apple a day does work!)

I just recently came down with a cold, so what else would you eat when afflicted by a cold? Chicken soup of course! I personally, despite being  under the weather would much rather make my own soup over heating canned soup (despite it taking a lot less energy). First, I can add more chicken and vegetables in the soup. Second, I also know how much sodium is in the soup and finally it just tastes better. I make soups frequently but rarely follow a recipe. This approach can back fire when trying to make cream based soups. So for me soup making tends to be a "let's clean out the fridge and see what might go together" type of cooking activity. This I warn you can be rather a risky business. I have definitely made some soups that I don't like. Chicken soup is pretty basic, and can be quite cost effective considering how many meals you get out of a pot compared to a can of soup!

Here is what I did:

2 poblano chilies (roasted in the oven, skinned, de-seeded and chopped up)

1 diced onion

3 minced cloves of garlic

5 celery stalks chopped

6 chopped carrots

1/3 cup wild rice

2/3 cup Trader Joe's Brown rice medley

2 cooked chicken breasts chopped (I boiled them)

Turmeric (helps brighten the color - naturally!) 

olive oil

chicken stock (I used 4 cups

water

Poblanos

Saute onions, garlic, celery, carrots and wild rice in olive oil and turmeric until the carrots are just starting to soften. Add brown rice medley, chicken stock and 1 cups of water. Add poblano chilies. Cook til rice is just turning tender. Add water if you need more liquid. The rice mixture will absorb some of the liquid and some will cook off. You can also just use more chicken broth if you want. Season as you wish with herbs and spices of your choice!

Brown Rice, Black Barley and Dikon Radish Seeds

I typically don't add salt until I am eating a bowl of soup. This ensures the soup does get overly salty. While most may not think of whipping up a pot of soup at a drop of a hat, I will say it really isn't that hard and can be an entire meal if you add enough stuff to the pot. Every time I make soup it comes out a little different because as stated I rarely a recipe. In my opinion it is best just to experiment. What is good to remember however is the order of when you add  ingredients. Obviously really hard vegetables and hard beans will need to cook the longest. While tender vegetables can be added at the very last minute. Also if you are going to use rice or pasta best to for the first time have it al dente, because every time you re-heat the soup it will soften. I froze half the pot to keep it fresh, but ended up defrosting it two days later. I got about 10 meals out of the pot.