Chicken and ham pie

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This pie is a family favorite. For a family of four a full pie can make two meals, hot on the first day, cold on the next. It is great both ways.

The secret of this pie is the wonderful stock created by boiling the chicken and ham, then reduced to give an intense flavour.

The recipe calls for 450g of shortcrust pastry (ie 300g flour, 150g butter). This will give quite a thin crust for a 30cm pie dish, you could use more pastry if you wanted a thicker crust. You could also use prepared puff pastry, but nothing beats home made shortcrust pastry.

Ingredients

1 medium chicken
2 gammon steaks, approx 450g total
450g shortcrust pastry
100ml single cream
Chopped parsley
Black pepper to taste

Method

  1. Put the whole chicken, and the gammon steaks, in a saucepan. Choose a pan where the meat is a tight fit. You need to cover the chicken with water so it cooks quickly, but too much water will dilute the flavour of the stock.

  2. Pour boiling water over the chicken and ham to almost cover it. Cover the pan and simmer until cooked. A medium chicken should take about an hour after the water comes back to the boil.

  3. When the chicken is cooked, take the chicken and ham out of the stock. Strain the stock, and skim any fat off the top.

  4. Ideally you need about 500ml of stock, so if you have more than that you might need to reduce it by boiling it off. It shouldn't need any seasoning, there will be salt from the ham and flavour from the chicken. Taste it as you reduce it, don't let it get too salty.

  5. Meanwhile, take the meat off the chicken and cut it into chunks of about 2cm (it isn't critical). Cut the ham into similar sized pieces, and mix the meat, adding a little black pepper (no salt, the stock is seasoned enough).

  6. Cut the pastry in half. Roll one half and line a 30cm shallow pie dish. Roll the other half out ready for the top.

  7. Fill the pie with the meat, the pour over the cream and enough stock to half fill the dish. Top the pie with the other half of the pastry.

  8. Bake for 45 minutes. Bake at 200C for the first 20 minutes then reduce to about 150C.

This pie goes well with potatoes, or chips, and vegetables. Use the remaining stock as a gravy.

Served cold, the stock in the pie sets to a wonderful moist jelly. It is great with a salad.

This recipe is for 8 servings.