Chicken and Leek Mashed Potato-Topped Pie

My good friend popped over for dinner the other day and I decided to make a pie. I didn't have any puff pastry in the house and I'm pretty useless at making homemade pastry, so I decided to top my pie with mashed potato instead. 

I found a recipe for a chicken and leek pie on allrecipes.co.uk (link: http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipe/627/chicken-and-leek-pie.aspx) however as I started following it, a couple of the ingredients listed weren't actually included in the instructions. So I ended up doing a bit of improvisation, and despite being worried it may not work out it turned out to be tasty in the end - and my friend said he enjoyed it too (hopefully he just wasn't being polite!)

Recipe - Chicken and Leek Mashed Potato-Topped Pie
Serves 2

Ingredients:

Olive oil
2 skinless chicken breasts
4 leeks, chopped
Large knob of butter
1 tbsp plain flour
250ml chicken stock
250ml milk
Salt and pepper (seasoning)
3 large potatoes, peel and chopped
Dash of milk and knob of butter (for mash)

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 200°C.
• Cut the chicken breasts into bite-sized chunks. 
• Put a glug of olive oil into a frying pan and cook chicken chunks until browned. Set these aside.
• Add a little more olive oil into the same pan and add 3 of the leeks. Saute on a medium heat until softened. Set these aside with the chicken.
• In a big pan melt a large knob of butter and add a tablespoon of flour and mix to form a smooth paste. Gradually add the milk to create a thickened sauce.
• Add the chicken, leeks and stock to the pan with the sauce and stir all together.
• Cover and simmer for 10-15  minutes. The sauce should reduce slightly.
  
• Season the mixture with some salt and pepper and pour into a pie dish. Leave to cool whilst you cook the potatoes.
  
• Add the chopped potatoes to a pan with plenty of water to cover them. Bring to the boil and then turn down the heat and simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are soft.
• Add a little milk and butter and mash the potatoes. I softened one more leek by cooking it in butter and added this to the mash.
  
• Top the pie mixture with the mashed potato and spread evenly over the top.
  
• Place in the oven and cook for about 15-20 minutes - till the pie is piping hot throughout. 

This is my idea of great comfort food!
  

Lisa x

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