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Serves
6
1
large onion, halved
2 carrots
2 sticks celery
1 whole chicken, about 1.8 kg in weight
1.5L whole milk
A bay leaf, a sprig of thyme and 6 black peppercorns
180g fresh chestnuts
2 level tbsps plain flour
90g butter
240g field mushrooms (or fresh wild chanterelles)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
450g puff pastry - bought fresh is fine
1 beaten egg
Chicken
pies are so welcome. This one has a few fresh chestnuts
in it, but if you hate them, leave them out.
November is a good time to substitute chanterelles for
field mushrooms – or try morels in the spring.
Into
a large pan put the onion, carrot, celery quartered
chicken, herbs and peppercorns.
Pour over the milk and bring to the boil. When it boils,
turn it down to a simmer and cook until the chicken
is tender and beginning to come off the bone easily
- about 1 - 1½ hours.
Set aside until it is cool enough to handle.
Meanwhile, nick the skin of the chestnuts with a sharp
knife. Put them in a pan, cover with water and boil
for 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
Take out the chestnuts one by one and peel carefully
using a small knife - hold them in a cloth to protect
your hands. Set them to one side.
Lift out the chicken, then strain the milk and keep
for the sauce.
Remove the meat from the bone - every bit of it, including
the "oysters" on the underside - but discard
the skin and the parson's nose.
Lightly stir-fry the chestnuts in 30g of the butter
and set aside.
Melt the remaining butter in a saucepan large enough
to hold all the milk. Add the flour stir to a paste
and cook for 1 minute. Add all the milk slowly stirring
all the time, then re-heat, stirring until the sauce
thickens.
Season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat.
Preheat the oven to Gas 7/220.
Put an upside down egg cup or a pie raiser into a pie
dish with a flat rim then arrange the meat, mushrooms
and chestnuts evenly around it.
Pour over the sauce - it should cover the chicken -
but don't overfill the dish.
Roll out the pastry until it is ½ cm thick. Cut
a 1 cm strip and lay around the rim of the dish, sticking
it down with egg. Brush the rim with egg.
Cut an oval of pastry to fit the dish and lay it over
the top. Decorate with pastry leaves and flowers - be
artistic.
Brush the whole lid with egg to glaze and bake the pie
in the oven for 30 minutes.
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