Cheesy chicken pie recipe

Cooler weather is best served with the ultimate comfort food and this parmesan creamy chicken pie will hit the spot.

Ingredients

Chicken Filling:

4 chicken breasts – cut into cubes (1cm)
3 tbsp butter for chicken (from your pantry)
1 onion – peel and chop finely
2 stalks celery – cut off ends and chop
2 carrots – peel and chop finely (5mm)
3 tbsp flour for chicken filling
2 tsp chicken stock granules
2 cups boiling water
120ml cream
5g fresh thyme – strip off leaves
fresh thyme – strip off leaves
olive oil (from your pantry)
freshly ground salt and pepper (from your pantry)

Pie Crust:

1 cup flour
50g parmesan – grate finely
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp dried thyme
4 tbsp butter for pie crust (from your pantry)
½ cup milk (from your pantry)
200g green beans

How to
Prep: Preheat oven to 200°C. Prepare all ingredients as indicated above. Dissolve the chicken stock granules in the boiling water to make the chicken broth and set aside.

Chicken filling: Place the butter in a large frying pan over high heat. When the butter starts bubbling add the chicken, season with salt and pepper. Cook chicken for about 5 minutes until golden brown, then transfer to a plate. Add onion, carrots and celery to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes. Stir in flour (see the amount for chicken filling above) followed by the chicken broth and cream. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, then add the chicken back into the pan along with the fresh thyme. Turn the heat down to low and leave to simmer for another 5 minutes.

Pie crust: Melt the butter (see quantity for pie crust above). In a large bowl, mix together these ingredients: flour (see quantity for pie crust above), parmesan, baking powder, dried thyme and a little salt. Now make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and pour in the milk and melted butter. Stir until the dough binds together in a ball.

Assemble pie: Spoon chicken filling a casserole dish. Form the dough into a “lid” just big enough to fit on top of the casserole dish and drop it on top of the filling. Place the pie on a large baking sheet and put into the preheated oven to bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The dough crust should be nicely browned and when you put a fork into it, it should come out clean.

Green beans: Bring a saucepan of lightly salted water to the boil. Add beans and cook for 2 minutes. Once cooked, drain, leave the beans in the saucepan, add a knob of butter and keep warm.

To serve, add a serving of pie to the plate with a portion of green beans on the side.

This article first appeared on All4Women and has been republished with permission.

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