Spelt Saturdays: Chicken and leek pie

This week saw me plunge into slightly more adventurous pastry baking.

Having been on a local shopping binge earlier in the week, I had chicken in the fridge from the local butchers that needed using up, and I wanted to give it more than a roast or fry like I normally do.

Mostly following a recipe from the BBC, I made chicken and leek pie, making a last minute dash to Tesco to buy some of the less obvious ingredients.

I simmered the chicken thighs for an hour with some onions, celery, thyme and seasoning. Using that time to make the pastry, I mixed it in a similar method to that of last week, but in greater quantities as this needed the pastry to cover the top too (maybe one day I will remember to take a picture of this).

Getting the chicken thighs out of the pan, the stock was poured into a jug and used later as part of the sauce filling, the rest was discarded.

The leeks were fried off and mixed in with the stock, parsley, creme freche and mustard. Bacon was meant to be part of this but I completely forgot to add the cooked bacon I already had.

Cutting the chicken into small chunks, I added this to the frying pan and mixed it all together. Ripping a part of the pastry away from the main ball, I set that aside and pressed the remainder into the pie dish, flattening it out and scraping away excess.

Mixing the two components together, it was pretty exciting to see an hour and a half worth of cooking come into shape.

I rolled out the rest of the pastry and coated it with more spelt flour, then drape it over the pie. I didn't make fancy leaves like the recipe told me to, but I did make sufficient incisions for the air to circulate all the way through. Popping it in the oven for half an hour at gas mark 7 made it come out looking golden and fresh.

I didn't have enough time to let it cool before heading out for yoga, but it was the most welcome coming home gift I could have given to myself. I was a little nervous that the exterior would blow the interior out of the water, but it was the perfect slight comfort I had hoped for, the seasoning all blending together perfectly and the chicken being tender and flavourful.

The pastry stuck again but I think it's partly due to my inadequate pan lining than something to do with the spelt, but only time will tell.

Sophie's rating: 9
Chelsea's rating: 9