Comfort food at its finest, the Hairy Bikers chicken and wild mushroom pie is perfect for sharing.
This recipe serves four to six people and will take around 2 hours and 15 minutes to make – but is well worth the wait. The Hairy Bikers say this pie is “a truly posh pie, perfect cold for a picnic or serve hot with buttery mash and peas to seduce the vicar on a Sunday.” One of our most popular Hairy Bikers recipes (opens in new tab).
Ingredients
For the pastry:
- 450g/1lb plain flour
- 2tsp baking powder
- ½ (half) tsp salt
- 225g/8oz unsalted butter
- 1 egg yolk
- about 125ml/ 4floz ice cold water
For the filling:
- 2 Organic skinned and boned chicken breasts (about 400g/14oz)
- 500g/1lb 2oz skinned and boned chicken thighs
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 100ml/31/2 (half) floz dry white wine
- 100ml/31/2 (half) floz water
- 2 tsp fresh chopped Tarragon
- 2tsp fresh chopped Thyme
- 280g/10oz fresh wild mushrooms, such as ceps, chanterelles, chestnut, coarsely chopped
- 50ml/2floz sour cream
- 1 egg, beaten for glazing and sealing
You will also need :
- 20-23cm truly deep pie tin
Method
- Put the flour, baking powder and salt into a food processor, then add the unsalted butter and the egg yolk to form crumbs. Gradually add the water a tablespoonful at a time until a ball of pastry miraculously appears. Wrap the pastry in cling film and place in the fridge to chill for an hour. Meanwhile make the filling.
- For the filling; chunk the chicken and brown off in 2tbsp of olive oil. Add the wine, water, tarragon and thyme, season well and poach for about 15 – 20 mins or until the liquid is reduced and the chicken is cooked through. In a separate frying pan add the remaining olive oil and coarsely chopped mushrooms, season and sauté for 5 mins.
- Put the cooked chicken in a bowl along with 2tbsp of their cooking liquor, add the mushrooms then stir in the sour cream, this is the filling. Now set aside to cool.
- Heat oven to 200C/Fan 180C/gas 6. Butter and flour your pie tin. Take two thirds of the pastry and roll out. Use to line your tin. Prick with a fork, cover with baking parchment and fill the pastry case with baking beads or beans. Bake blind for about 10 – 15 mins.
- Remove from the oven and take out the parchment and beads, leave to cool. If the base is still a bit soggy return the naked pastry case to the oven for a couple of minutes to dry out.
- Time to build your pie! Generously fill the pastry case with the filling (this must be a wellpacked pie). Take the remaining pastry and roll out the lid. Brush therim of the cooked case with the beaten egg then cover filling with thepastry lid. Press down the edge gently to seal and trim off the excess.Use a knife to make 2 holes in the top to let out the steam duringcooking. Brush liberally with beaten egg and bake in the oven for about30 -35 mins or until deep golden brown.This pie could make Desperate Dan Sheriff!!
Top tips for making Hairy Bikers chicken and wild mushroom pie
This recipe uses wild mushrooms but if you can’t find any in supermarkets, you could opt for a mixture of chestnut and button mushrooms instead.
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