Chicken and chorizo pie

Since I'm home I really wanted to try a recipe which  needs an oven and since I received the March issue of the BBC GoodFood magazine this recipe for a chicken and chorizo pie has been tempting me.

Given that this meal took about 2 1/2 hours to prepare I decided to put on some music so I got out my spotify and put on a playlist of Train as the upbeat music really fitted with the beautifully sunny day.

This recipe was simple to follow and make, however it does take quite a long time.  I would highly recommend measuring and preparing all the ingredients before you start just so that it's quicker once you actually begin cooking.

Prepare your ingredients beforehand

The recipe says you need a large pack of parsley, however be careful.  Large packs of parsley in Sainsbury's usually weigh about 100g, however, I found that I only needed around 25g.

They recommend you use a 20cm x 25cm pie dish and a pie funnel or piping nozzle.  I didn't have a dish that big so I used a slightly smaller but deeper dish for my pie and it still worked really well.  As I'm at home I was able to use a pie funnel, however, if you don't have one (or a piping nozzle) then I would advise simply cutting a couple of large slits in the top of the pie so that the steam can still escape.

Remember that if you do use a smaller dish like I did you will probably need less than the 500g of pastry they recommend using.  I had quite a bit left over, even after I used some to create the decorations for the top.  When covering the pie with the pastry you should definitely follow the recipe's advice and use the rolling pin to help you lift the pastry as it makes it so much easier and less likely to break.  Crimping the edge of the pie not only makes it look nice but also stops the pastry from moving or coming away from the dish while it's cooking, you're effectively creating a seal.

Brushing the pastry with egg is another important step as it will make your pastry turn a beautiful golden brown colour when it's in the oven.  The lighter patches you can see in the centre of my pie are the areas it was harder to reach with the pastry brush and therefore were not coated as well with egg.

The finished pie

I served my pie with peas, carrots, beans and a sweet potato mash which I cooked while the pie was baking at the end.  I always find that pies are difficult dishes to serve elegantly but I'm a great believer that what a dish lacks in presentation it can make up for in taste!

All in all this was another great recipe from BBC GoodFood.  What I like about their recipes is that they are simple to follow, they have (so far) always tasted good and their timing estimates are accurate which is really helpful when planning a meal (especially when you only have a limited amount of time).  I'm looking forward to getting back to college this week where I hope the next issue of the magazine will be waiting for me!