Editor's Note: I refuse to annotate this recipe. Warning: it is a VERY British recipe. Grams and teaspoons, inches and centimetres mingle promiscuously. There are also mysterious vegetables such as 'rutabagas' (who has these¹?) and something called 'marrowfat peas'. Any Americans who have access to these exotic ingredients and a background in both cooking and chemistry may happily partake of this dish, which frankly looks yummy. For alternatives, see my chicken recipe in this issue. DG

Pastry

Ingredients:

• 500g plain flour
• 250g butter chilled and cubed
• Good pinch of salt
• 2-3 tbsp milk

Method:

1. Sift flour into bowl, rub in butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add salt.
2. Add milk, a tbsp at a time. Rub by hand until dough forms. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour.

(This quantity makes a deep 12-inch family pie. Adjust for your own needs, keeping half butter-to-flour ratio.)

Filling

Ingredients:

• 2 large chicken breasts, skinned
• 1 large carrot
• Half a small swede. (rutabaga)
• 2 potatoes
• 1 onion
• 4 large mushrooms
• 1 tin marrowfat peas
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• Half a pint of chicken stock
• 1 glass white wine
• 1tbsp cornflour mixed with 1 tbsp water
• Oil for frying
• Beaten egg to glaze

Method:

1. Cut all ingredients into 1 cm cubes. Add to large pan with a little vegetable oil.
2. Gently fry for 5 mins, stirring.
3. Add white wine and cook for 2 mins to remove alcohol. Add stock, paprika and parsley. Simmer for 10-15 mins. Stir in cornflour mixture to thicken. Season with salt and pepper. Allow to cool.
4. Preheat oven to 220 or 200 fan.
5. Meanwhile, cut pastry in half and roll out to 4mm thick, big enough to line your chosen pie dish with an overlap. (this quantity makes a 12" pie.)
6. Butter your dish lightly and line with half the pastry.
7. Spoon filling into lined dish with slotted spoon, any remaining liquid can be used for gravy later.
8. Brush edges with egg and add other half of rolled out pastry to form lid. Crimp edges together to seal.
9. Brush top with egg. Pierce lid with knife to allow steam to escape whilst cooking.
10. Any pastry scraps can be cut into shapes to decorate your pie; stick to lid with egg. (Mine looks more like a pigeon!)
11. Bake for 20 minutes.
12. Brush with more egg.
13. Bake for further 25 mins until golden and crisp.

This is a very substantial pie, simply served with a little gravy and some green beans!

Enjoy!

FWR

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