Making a chicken pie with double or single crust involve 3 steps. The filling is the easy part, while making the sauce or gravy involves the technique in making a white cream sauce, known as Bechamel sauce. The crust part is easy too if a store-bought crust is to be used. But challenge yourself to make a home-made crust, the result is more satisfying.

BASIC SHORT CRUST PASTRY:

1 lb cold lard cut into cubes                                       

5-5 ½ cups all purpose flour

3 tsp. salt                                                                    

1 egg

1 tbsp. vinegar                                                            

¾+ cup ice water

Beat egg and vinegar into ice water to make up 1 cup liquid. Refrigerate until use.

Place flour and salt in work-bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. Process on/off to mix.  Add lard into work bowl and process a few seconds until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.  With machine running, add ice water mixture in a steady stream through the feed-tube. Process with on/off pulses a few times, until mixture is just coming together into a ball. Do not over process.

Turn dough out onto a large piece of waxed paper. Bring the edges of paper together and pressing through the paper to make dough into a ball.  Knead gently once or twice to distribute the fat evenly. Flatten the ball out to a large flat round. Wrap well and refrigerate 10 minutes before using.

Dough may be frozen for up to 1 month. Defrost in fridge before using.

This recipe is sufficient for a double-crusted pie. If only a top or bottom pie crust is needed, make dough with half the amount of ingredients. 

DOUBLE-CRUSTED CHICKEN PIE:

1 quantity of basic short crust pastry--see recipe, enough for double-crusted pie

Filling:

    1 cup chicken meat                                    

   

    ½ cup coarsely chopped mushrooms

    1/3 cup cooked carrot, diced                                 

    ½ cup chopped onion

    ¼ cup cooked peas                                     

    4 sliced cooked ham, diced

 

    1½ tsp. salt

    1 tsp. white pepper

    1 tbsp. wine

    ½ tsp. sugar                                                            

    2 tsp. tapioca starch

1 cup warm Béchamel sauce--see recipe                    

egg wash—beat 1 egg with equal amount of water together

Cut pastry into halves. Roll out one portion to ¼-inch thickness to line the bottom of a 9-inch pie dish, trimming off excess. *** If making a pot pie, ignore this procedure in making bottom crust.

Roll the other portion out to same thickness. Transfer it to a plate lined with a piece of wax paper. Refrigerate both pastries for at least 30 minutes before use.

The filling:  Add 1 tsp. of the salt, the sugar and tapioca starch to chicken meat. Toss well to mix and marinade for 30 minutes. In a large non-stick saucepan over medium-high heat, heat 1 tbsp. oil until very hot. Cook onions for 2-3 minutes, then add mushrooms and cook 3-4 minutes more. Remove with a slotted spoon.

Heat 1 tbsp. oil in the saucepan and add chicken. Cook until no longer pink. Add in ham, peas, carrots, cooking wine, pepper and the ½ tsp. of salt. Toss ingredients well together. Add sauce and mix in well. Transfer filling mixture to a bowl and let cool.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Fill pie crust with filling. If making a pot pie with no bottom crust, just transfer filling to a baking pan, or a deep dish oven-proof container. Place top piece of pastry over filling, sealing and crimping edges together. Brush pie with egg wash; and make venting holes on top crust. Bake 45 minutes or until crust is golden.

  

                                     

BECHAMEL SAUCE—WHITE ROUX SAUCE:

½ an onion, finely chopped                           

½ a carrot, finely chopped

½ stalk celery, finely chopped                       

4 tbsp. butter                                                  

4-5 tbsp. all purpose flour

2½-3 cups hot milk or hot chicken stock, or a combination of both                                      

2 -3 thyme leaves, or ¼ tsp dried thyme

dash white pepper and salt to taste                

dash grated nutmeg

In a heavy saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Cook onion, carrot, celery until soft and golden. Stir in flour and cook over low heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent browning. Remove from heat, gradually add hot milk or stock or milk mixture, whisking with a wire whisk constantly to mix smoothly to prevent lump. Strain mixture into a non-stick pan, pressing down on vegetables to extract flavour. Return pot to high heat. Bring sauce to a boil. If sauce is too thick, add a bit more milk or chicken stock.

Reduce heat to medium-low & simmer sauce for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Adjust seasoning. Use sauce as needed. This is the basic white sauce using butter & flour as roux, or the thickening method.

If sauce is not to be used immediately, cover the surface with a piece of buttered wax paper to prevent skin forming and let sauce cool. Sauce may be kept for up to 2 days in a refrigerator.

VARIATIONS ON BECHAMEL SAUCE:

Cheese sauce:  Add 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese to the sauce. Add pinch of dried-mustard and paprika to season sauce.

Mornay sauce:  Add 2/3 cup whipping cream to sauce and boil to reduce by one-third. Then add in ½ cup mixed grated Gruyere and Parmesan cheese and 6 tbsp. butter.

Mushroom sauce:  Add 1 cup chopped or sliced cooked mushrooms to sauce.

Parsley sauce:  Add 7 tbsp. chopped parsley to sauce.

Tomato cream sauce:  Cook together 1 lb. fresh or 1 cup canned tomatoes, 1 stalk celery, 1 sliced onion, salt and pepper to taste. Drain cooking liquid, pressing through a sieve, and add to Bechamel sauce gradually, stirring to blend in