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Turn leftover roast chicken into a chicken and mushroom pie

My chicken and mushroom pie, ready to come out of the oven. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

30 Oct 2024

Having over-catered somewhat for a lunch, I used the substantial amount of leftovers to make a large chicken and mushroom pie.

My mom would have loved this pie, and would undoubtedly have served it with mashed potatoes and peas. She’d be turning 100 this weekend, so you might want to come back here tomorrow for her Yorkshire pudding recipe. The pie recipe came about when I cooked an entire chicken too many for a lunch last Sunday, and needed to use the leftovers wisely.

The chicken was my potjie-roasted ginger chicken, which had gone down a treat with the lovely group who had booked for lunch. But even though we sent out seconds there was still plenty left over.

My eye went straight to the mushrooms at my local supermarket — such a classic filling for a pie to feed a family. And the one you make at home is always going to be better than the one from the corner shop.

I had a think about what would make a chicken pie nice and creamy and flavourful, and decided on the following: onion, garlic, mushrooms, courgettes, thyme, peppercorns, star anise, cloves, bay leaves, and a creamy carrier sauce made of white wine, chicken stock and cream. Because I had some leftover ham in the fridge, I chopped that up and stirred it in too.

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The cooked chicken can either be shredded (“pulled” in the current parlance) or chopped into small dice. The courgettes and mushrooms should be sliced thinly. And the star anise and bay leaves can be removed before putting the pastry on top and putting it in the oven.

Use the pastry that’s left over after you trim the edges of the pastry to cut out leaves to decorate the centre of the pie. And don’t forget to egg wash the pie before it goes in the oven.

I like a high temperature for a pie crust, and it’s done when it’s crisp and golden, not necessarily the time stated in a recipe — all ovens behave differently.

Tony’s homemade chicken and mushroom pie

My chicken and mushroom pie, ready to come out of the oven. (Photo: Tony Jackman)

(Serves-8)

Ingredients

Butter to grease the pie dish and to cook the onions

1 large onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

300g button mushrooms, sliced

2 courgettes, sliced

1 glass white wine

325ml chicken stock

100ml cream

8 peppercorns

1 star anise

6 cloves

2 bay leaves

1 Tbsp thyme leaves, picked

2 cups shredded cooked chicken

½ cup chopped ham

Salt to taste

Black pepper, if needed on tasting

¼ cup cornflour dissolved in water

1 pack of frozen puff pastry, thawed

Method

This recipe is for a large pie dish. Grease it, and make sure the pastry is thawed. Preheat the oven to 240°C, or 220°C if you consider yours to be a particularly hot oven.

In a heavy pot large enough to accommodate all the chicken and other ingredients, melt the butter and sauté the onions and garlic until soft. Add the peppercorns, cloves, bay leaves, star anise and thyme.

Add the sliced mushroom and courgettes and cook on a moderate heat until the mushrooms have released their juices and the juices have mostly cooked away.

Add a glass of white wine, stir, and continue to cook until reduced by about half.

Add the chicken stock and continue to cook in a similar fashion. When reduced by half, add the cream and cook gently until the cream emulsifies with the liquids. Fish out the bay leaves and star anise.

Stir in the diced or shredded chicken and the ham.

To bind the mixture, dissolve a little cornflour in water and stir it in to thicken.

Leave the mixture to cool to room temperature.

Roll the pastry ino a ball and roll it out on a floured work surface into a round slightly larger than the area of the pie dish.

Bake at 240°C or 220°C for about 25 minutes or until the crust has puffed up and turned golden brown. My pernickety old gas oven insisted on taking a full 40 minutes for the pastry to be perfect. She’s a feisty old broad and frankly needs a good talking to. DM

Tony Jackman is twice winner of the Galliova Food Writer of the year award, in 2021 and 2023

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