Chicken and Chorizo Pie

I’m disheartened by my complete lack of skill with pastry and am not looking forward to the energy I need to expend to get good. Most baking things I can master and I’m happy to ignore icing as I’m bad at it. Pastry though is a basic that I should be able to do. I have no idea what the issue is but I clearly need to practise more.

I decided to make a pie this week. I don’t watch Bake Off (shock horror) but I know that they made a picnic pie in the final so thought I’d give it a go. I should have bought the pastry but attempted a lard/butter short crust thing that should have worked but didn’t. It cracked, I had to piece it together in the tin, there were a lot of holes I had to patch up – a nightmare. It didn’t help that I was making a massive pie in a 20” springform tin so the rolling and transporting was a pain.

Anyway, the filling does rock so I’m happy with that. It tastes great and I should probably try making mini pies in a muffin tin before attempting a huge pie. The pastry tastes great but just looks shocking. I’m giving guidelines below so sorry for the ramshackle recipe.

Ingredients

800g short crust pastry - Recipes were saying 500g but unless you can roll it out ultra-thin (and who wants that in a pie) and transport it to a tin in one piece then forget it. Also if you can do that you’re super human in my eyes and should be saving the world! I’m not giving a recipe for this as mine clearly didn’t work. Just buy some ready to roll.

4 chicken breasts

1 x chorizo ring (about 225g)

1 x pack of pork sausages

1 heaped tsp of hot chili pepper

1 heaped tsp cayenne pepper

1 egg, beaten

 

1.    Preheat the oven the 180°c/GM4.

2.    Make the filling as I think it benefits from sitting together for a while before cooking. Chop the chicken breasts and chorizo into small pieces. Mix with the sausage meat that you take out of the cases. Then add the spice and mush together. Hands are best. I tend not to use salt and pepper as you’re using two meats that have already been prepared so there should be enough. If you’re not sure then just fry up a small amount and taste once cooked.

3.    Grease your tin with butter. Then roll out 2/3rds of the pastry to cover the bottom and sides of the tin. I’m not going to help with method but if it cracks or breaks use water to cement it back together. It will taste fine as its pastry.

4.    Put your filling in the pie and squish down (I didn’t blind bake the case as the filling isn’t cooked and I think you only do that if the pie is going in for about 30 mins or so – this does run the risk of a soggy bottom to the pie but once again its pastry – it will taste fine).

5.    Roll out the rest of rest of your pastry to make a lid. Use egg to wash the pastry in the tin that will come in contact with the lid. Then put the lid on. Cut off excess and squish the top and side pastry together. Wash the top with egg.

6.    Cover the top of the pie with foil and bake for 45 mins. After that time take the foil off and bake for another 45 mins. Cool and serve.

N.B. Cool in the tin and don’t attempt the remove the springform sides until it’s cool and you’ve run a knife around it. Otherwise you might find that half a side comes off leaving you attempting to stick it back on with egg wash, whacking the sides around it again, shoving it in the oven and begging for it to work (it does).

Luckily looks don't matter to those I work with. Serve with mustard and piccalili.