Homemade Chicken Pie

Making a pie from left over chicken can be a lovely way to spend a hungover evening, (recommended for milder hangovers only.)
Creating a chicken pie is surprisingly easy with ready cooked chicken and ready-made pastry, and it is fun when there are two of you in the kitchen. It is especially good on darker evenings as the weather is turning, when you can spend time in a warm kitchen and listen the radio.

Firstly, you must pick every morsel of meat from the chicken carcass. This task is a love/hate thing. So, if you really can't bring yourself to pick about the carcass like a proper carnivore, then get someone else to do it. But, it can actually be a bizarrely enjoyable task.


To create a chicken and mushroom pie: (in the easiest possible way)
(It may look clumsy but that's the excellence of a home-made pie, it won't look shop bought - but why would you want it to?!)

1. Slice a generous amount of mushrooms and simmer in milk for about 15mins.
2. Meanwhile, roll out your ready made pasty and line a greased pie dish with it.
3. Once the mushrooms are done, remove them from the milk with a slotted spoon and set to one side, you will need the milk for the white sauce.
4. Make a white sauce, a slap dash manner often works - mix a small knob of butter with a spoon of flour over a medium heat, until it forms a paste. Then, add the milk a spoonful at a time and stir in until fully absorbed. The milk should be added a little at a time otherwise you will get lumps.)
5. Once your sauce has reached a smooth and silky consistency (not too thick) season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat. Add your mushrooms and chicken.
6. Fill the pie and roll out another piece of pastry for the lid and seal with a little water. Make a word out of pastry scraps, if you wish.
7. When you're ready to eat it, which will probably be the next day, brush with milk and cook in a hot oven (180c) for about half an hour.