Choose an ovenproof saucepan for this dish and you'll have minimal washing up! Serve with lots of steamed vegetables on the side.
Chicken leg, blue cheese and nettle pie
Make a warming spring pie from freshly foraged nettles
Serves: 2
Ingredients
- 120g Plain flour plus extra for the work surface
- 60g Salted butter
- 1tbsp Cold water
- A pinch of salt
- 1 Egg, beaten
- Oil for frying
- 2 Onions, finely chopped
- 6 Garlic cloves, finely chopped
- A bunch of fresh parsley, stalks and leaves separated, both finely chopped
- A small bunch of fresh thyme leaves, leaves picked and chopped
- 2 Leeks, sliced
- 75g Salted butter
- 50g Plain flour
- 250ml Milk or stock
- 1tbsp Mustard
- Salt
- Very large handful of fresh nettles leaves picked wearing gloves, plus extra
- 1 Chicken, cooked leg meat from 1 chicken
- 80gPreheat the oven to 200°c fan/220°c/425°f/gas mark 7.Put a few glugs of oil into a large ovenproof saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onions, garlic, parsley stalks and thyme and sauté until soft. Add the sliced leeks and continue cooking for 5 minutes until soft. Blue cheese, cubed
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 200°c fan/220°c/425°f/gas mark 7.
Step 2
Start by making the pastry, which doesn’t take long at all... Put the flour, butter, cold water and a pinch of salt in a large mixing bowl. Using your fingertips and working quickly, rub the cubed butter into the flour until it becomes the texture of coarse breadcrumbs. Now bring the dough together into a smooth ball with your hands, kneading a little and adding a dash more cold water if needed. Lightly flour a work surface and use a rolling pin to roll the pastry out into a circle, roughly the same size as your pan and about 2.5 cm/1⁄2 inch thick. Carefully transfer the pastry to a plate, cover with a kitchen towel and leave in the fridge while you make the filling.
Step 3
Put a few glugs of oil into a large ovenproof saucepan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onions, garlic, parsley stalks and thyme and sauté until soft. Add the sliced leeks and continue cooking for 5 minutes until soft.
Step 4
Add the butter and let it melt. Add the flour and stir around all the vegetables to let it cook out for 5 minutes. Now slowly add the milk (or stock), little by little, stirring with each addition until it’s combined into a smooth sauce surrounded by vegetables. Add the cooked chicken leg meat, mustard, a pinch of salt, chopped parsley leaves and nettle leaves to the sauce. Add the blue cheese and give the sauce a final stir. Heat through until the cheese is melted and combined and then turn off the heat.
Step 5
Take the pastry out of the fridge and layer it on top of the sauce, pushing it down slightly around the edges. Brush the pastry with the beaten egg then bake for 35–40 minutes until the pastry is golden. If you want to decorate the pie top with extra nettles they will need to be cooked, so 5 minutes before the end of cooking time remove the pie, place the nettles on top and brush with a little more egg wash before baking for the final 5 minutes. Serve.
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Louise Hagger