NICCI'S CHICKEN PIE

My friend Nicci has a great repertoire of recipes up her sleeve and her chicken pie is the best - both kid and adult friendly and not too complicated either. I have made a few alterations though by leaving out the mushrooms and courgette and instead adding sweetcorn and bacon. It takes just over an hour to make. I got so into my cooking yesterday afternoon I forgot to feed my baby but luckily she soon reminded me when I caught her trying to eat her own hand!

Ingredients for 4-6 portions (depending on the size):

250g mini chicken fillets, chopped into bite size pieces
250g bacon lardons
1 tbsp olive oil
350g cheese sauce (I bought rather than made my own)
150g double cream
1 onion, chopped
3 leeks, sliced
1 pepper, chopped
1 small tin of sweetcorn
1 roll of fresh puff pastry
Some mixed herbs (I used 1 tsp of dry thyme and herbs of Provence)
Salt and pepper

Slice the pepper, leeks, onion and chicken.

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and fry the lardons for 5 minutes.

Add the chicken and onions for another 5 minutes.

Next add the pepper, leeks and sweetcorn for a further 7 minutes until they are softened.

Add the herbs and season.

Pour in the cheese sauce and double cream and stir. Leave to simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. At this point also preheat the oven to 180 C and take the pastry out the fridge.

Pour into an oven proof dish and cover with the pastry. Prick a few air holes in the pastry - I did 6!

Cook in the oven for 40 minutes until the pie is bubbling and the pastry is brown.

Serve and enjoy!

This is so delicious - even if I do say so myself. I am not actually a huge pie fan - I would never order one in a restaurant however this is one of my favourite dishes. It does take a while to cook and prepare but it is very simple and you can alter the ingredients to suit you. If Arabella wasn't with me I would definitely add mushrooms and I also think peas could be a good addition. You could even make a vegetarian version with extra veg and no chicken or bacon - the possibilities are endless!

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