So, my pie decorating style is … rustic. But, does it matter? I had fun.

Most importantly, this one-hour puff pastry chicken pie takes only one hour … and tastes great! Ready-made puff pastry has got to be one of the world’s best shortcuts. Put it on top of anything and voilà, a pie.

This pie doesn’t have to take the full hour, but I factor in extra time for sweating off the vegetables, making the velouté sauce (butter, flour, stock), and having a pre-dinner cocktail.

The best thing about this pie is its adaptability. While you literally could just use chicken and onion, I like to add in vegetables for the full shebang. My favourite combinations are chicken and leek, chicken, carrots and peas, and chicken and potato, or sweet potato. This is also great re-heated for lunch the next day. Even in the microwave, the pastry, though soggier, still slaps.

“Promises and pie-crust are made to be broken.”
-jonathan swift, Polite conversation

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, chopped (this recipe you can chop them at a decent size 2-3 cm to keep them tender in the cooking)
3 sheets frozen puff pastry
60 g butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped (you can replace onion with one stalk celery if you prefer)
30 g plain flour
2 cups chicken stock (if you would like a creamier pie, replace one of the cups of stock with a cup of milk)
vegetables of your choosing if you wish to use. 2 sliced leeks, or 2-3 finely diced carrots and a cup of peas.
olive oil
herbs of your choosing

Instructions

Preheat oven to 210℃/410℉.
Very lightly grease base and sides and rim of a 25cm square baking dish with a tiny amount of olive oil.
Take puff pastry out of freezer and allow to thaw according to instructions.
In a pan, fry the chicken (you may have to do this in batches because you don't want to boil it) in olive oil on all sides until sealed. It will not be cooked through. Remove to the baking dish.
Melt the butter in the pan and cook onion. Then add garlic and cook till fragrant.
If using extra vegetables:
Leek: cook separately to the onion and ensure it's well cooked before mixing with the onion back in the pan. (You could also choose not to use onion at all and just use leek in its place)
Carrots and peas: after cooking the onion, add carrots to the pan and sweat them off 3-4 minutes before stirring in flour. Just add peas in at the last minute when pouring the sauce.
Potatoes. Parboil and chop and add to the baking dish before pouring in sauce.
Stir in flour, coating the onion, and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. You should no longer be able to see or smell the flour.
Lower heat and add stock (or stock and milk mix). Slowly bring to the boil, stirring constantly to ensure the flour doesn't stick at the bottom, and the mixture remains lump-free. Don't worry if it's thick, as the chicken will release juices during the cooking. Also don't worry if the sauce gets too thin. It's still tasty.
Season sauce with salt, pepper and herbs. Parsley, thyme, rosemary, dill, all work nicely.
Pour sauce over chicken and ensure chicken is well covered.
Cover pie filling with two sheets of puff pastry, layered over one another in such a way as to ensure there are no gaps. Use the third sheet to decorate.
Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until pastry is golden.

Hello!

One-Hour Puff Pastry Chicken Pie