Chicken and Mushroom Pies

I love making these chicken and mushroom pies. It's great for when I am feeling lazy about cooking because they last a few days and I can eat them without having to cook.  The bad side about these pies is they are time consuming.

I prefer to use the reduced fat puff pastry because they have less butter and are lighter on the stomach. It doesn't take away from the flavour they taste just as delicious as normal puff pastry. You can also use short crust pastry. I just had puff pastry in my freezer so used that.

Enjoy.

Chicken and Mushroom Pies

Makes 4 small pies


Ingredients
2 tspns olive oil
700gm chicken thigh fillets chopped
1 leek finely sliced
100gm cup mushrooms sliced
30gm butter
1 tbspn plain flour
1 cup rice milk
4 sheets reduced puff pastry or short-crust pastry
50gm melted milk free margarine

Method
1 heat oil in a large non-stick frying pan and cook chicken in 3 batches over medium high heat until well browned and cooked through. Set aside in a bowl.

2. Reduce heat to medium and add leek to the pan. Cook for 2 min or until leek is soft. Add mushrooms and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until soft. Remove from pan and add to chicken. Melt margarine in same pan and sprinkle flour over. Cook stiring for 1 min. Add milk a little at a time stirring until smooth and well combined between each addition.

3. Add milk mixture to chicken and vegetable and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper to taste and cool completely.

4. Preheat oven 190C or 170C fan. Cut a 16cm and a 12cm round from each pastry sheet (they will overlap slightly but you can stretch out the pasty to fit) Line 4 lightly greased 1 cup capacity pie dishes with larger pastry rounds.

5. Fill pie shells with chicken mixture, then lay a smaller round on top. Use a fork to seal the edges and then prick a few holes in the top tp let the steam out. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.