Chicken & Mushroom Puff Pie

Ingredients

• 700g chicken thighs, boneless and chopped
• 400ml chicken stock
• 30g plain flour
• 300g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• Salt & black pepper, to taste
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp thyme leaves
• 100ml double cream
• 40g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 egg, beaten (for glaze)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 320g ready-rolled puff pastry
• Buttered peas and greens, to serve
• Dressed green salad, to serve

Method

1. Heat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C). Warm the olive oil and half the butter in a wide stainless or cast-iron frying pan over medium-high heat. Pat the chicken dry — water means steam, and steam means no browning — then season generously with salt and pepper.
2. Brown the chicken in two batches, 2–3 minutes a side, until deeply golden but not cooked through. Don't crowd the pan — all at once and the chicken steams in its own juices instead of building those sticky brown bits in the base. Lift out onto a plate.
3. Drop the remaining butter into the pan, then add the shallot and mushrooms. Fry for 6–8 minutes until the mushrooms have squeaked out their liquid, the pan is dry again and everything is glossy and caramelised — those stuck bits on the base are pure flavour.
4. Stir in the garlic and thyme and cook for just 30 seconds, until fragrant and pale gold. Don't let it burn — bitter garlic will haunt the whole pie.
5. Scatter in the flour and stir for a minute to cook out the raw, pasty edge. Pour in the hot chicken stock a splash at a time, whisking and scraping up the fond from the base, until you have a smooth, glossy sauce. Stir through the cream and Dijon, then return the chicken and any resting juices.
6. Simmer gently for 3–4 minutes until the sauce thickly coats the back of a spoon and clings to the chicken. Taste, season, taste again — adjust now, not at the table. Tip into a 20cm pie dish and leave to cool for 10 minutes; a warm filling sogs the pastry from underneath.
7. Lay the puff pastry over the top, trim the overhang and press the edges to seal — crimp with a fork if you fancy. Brush all over with beaten egg and slash a small vent in the centre so the steam has somewhere to go.
8. Bake for 25–30 minutes until the pastry is puffed, deeply bronzed and shatteringly crisp, with the filling bubbling at the seams. Rest for 5–10 minutes so the sauce settles.
9. Take it to the table whole. Crack over black pepper, shower with snipped chives, and serve with buttered peas or a heap of mash alongside.