Chicken, Ham and Mushroom Pie

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large heavy-bottomed frying pan or casserole
• •1.5-litre ceramic pie dish
• •Pastry brush

Instructions

1. 1

   Brown the chicken

   Cut the chicken thighs into generous chunks, roughly the size of a walnut. Season them well with salt and pepper. Heat the butter and oil in a large, heavy pan over a medium-high heat. When the butter foams and starts to settle, add the chicken in a single layer. Don't crowd the pan. Do this in two batches if you need to. Let the pieces sit without moving them for three or four minutes until they've taken on a proper golden colour underneath. Turn and brown the other side. You're not cooking them through, just building flavour on the surface. Set the chicken aside on a plate.

   Thighs, not breast. This matters. Thigh meat stays tender and generous through the long bake. Breast dries out and turns mealy. A pie is no place for dry chicken.
2. 2

   Cook the mushrooms and onion

   In the same pan, with all those golden, sticky bits still on the bottom, add the mushrooms. Don't touch them. Let them sit in the heat for a couple of minutes so they colour rather than stew. When they've gone golden on one side and the kitchen smells earthy and warm, stir them and add the sliced onion. Drop the heat a little. Cook for eight to ten minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and sweet and the mushrooms have shrunk and darkened. Add the garlic for the last minute. It needs the heat but not for long.

   Resist the urge to stir the mushrooms too early. A cold mushroom in a warm pan stews. A dry mushroom in a hot pan caramelises. The difference is everything.
3. 3

   Build the sauce

   Sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and onions and stir it through for a minute or so. It will look pasty and unpromising. That's fine. Pour in the stock gradually, stirring as you go, and watch the sauce come together. It thickens faster than you expect. Add the cream, the mustard, the thyme sprigs and the bay leaf. Let the whole thing simmer gently for five minutes until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and tastes rich and savoury. Season and taste. Then taste again. It should taste slightly more seasoned than you think, because the pastry will mute the flavour.

   If you've made your own stock from a roast chicken carcass, this is its moment. The sauce is the soul of the pie, and good stock is what gives it depth that no cube can replicate.
4. 4

   Combine and cool the filling

   Return the browned chicken to the pan. Fold in the ham pieces. Stir everything gently so the meat is coated in the sauce. Fish out the thyme stalks and the bay leaf. Taste it one more time. Transfer the filling to a 1.5-litre pie dish, or divide between individual dishes if you prefer. Now the important part: let the filling cool completely before the pastry goes anywhere near it. A warm filling makes damp pastry, and damp pastry is a sadness no one deserves. Be patient. Make a cup of tea. Read something. The pie will wait for you.

   You can speed the cooling by spreading the filling on a wide tray. Or make the filling the night before and refrigerate it. Tomorrow's pie is often a better pie, because the flavours have had time to settle into each other.
5. 5

   Top with pastry and bake

   Set the oven to 200C/180C fan. Unroll the puff pastry and drape it over the pie dish, pressing the edges down firmly against the rim. Trim any excess with a sharp knife. If you like, press the tines of a fork around the edge to seal it, or just pinch it with your fingers. Cut a small cross in the centre to let the steam escape. Brush the top generously with beaten egg. This is what gives you that deep, lacquered gold that makes everyone lean in when you bring it to the table. Bake for thirty to thirty-five minutes, until the pastry has puffed and turned a proper burnished colour and you can hear the filling bubbling faintly through the steam vent. Let it sit for five minutes before serving. Carry it to the table in the dish. Let people see the whole pie before you break into it. There are few better feelings than putting this in front of someone on a cold evening.

Chef Tips

• •Use chicken thighs, not breast. I'll say it again because it matters. Thigh meat has the fat and the texture to hold up through a long bake without drying out. It's cheaper, too, which is a quiet bonus that doesn't need announcing.
• •The ham should be proper ham. Thick-cut from the deli counter, or carved from a piece you've cooked yourself. Not the wafer-thin, plastic-wrapped sort. You want pieces with some substance that hold their own against the chicken and the sauce.
• •If you can get your hands on a few wild mushrooms, even a small handful of dried porcini soaked in warm water, add them alongside the chestnut mushrooms. They bring a depth that ordinary mushrooms can't reach on their own. Strain the soaking liquid through a cloth and use it as part of the stock.
• •A pie is patient. It reheats well, covered loosely with foil in a moderate oven for twenty minutes or so. Leftover pie for lunch the next day, with a green salad dressed sharply with a mustard vinaigrette, is one of life's more reliable pleasures.

Advance Preparation

• •The filling can be made up to a day ahead and stored, covered, in the fridge. This actually improves the flavour and makes assembly effortless the next day.
• •The assembled, unbaked pie freezes well for up to two months. Freeze it solid, then wrap tightly in cling film and foil. Bake from frozen at the same temperature, adding ten to fifteen minutes to the cooking time. Cover with foil if the pastry darkens too quickly.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 360g)