Chicken & Leek Pie, Oh My!

The British have this thing with savory pies.

Meat pies; pork pies; and chicken pies? Yup.

I was dreaming about Nigel Slater's Chicken and Leek Pie w/ Bacon.....but decided to forgo the bacon and add in peas cause it's spring.

There is still a chill in the air, so make this now or forever hold your peace.

Think chicken pot pie without all that white, gross glutenous stuff (my childhood memories of frozen dinners).

If you have leftover roast chicken from last night, I suggest you make this.
Your family will be very happy, and I promise it's so easy because we are using frozen puff pastry (the best invention ever).

You can make this in a 9" pie dish, but I went one pan, and did everything in my fancy FIELD cast iron skillet.

Ingredients List:

leftover cooked chicken: I used about 1 1/2 breasts and some thigh meat (I even used the skin and all the chicken juices that had congealed in the fridge for maximum flavor)
2-3 tbsp butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 leeks, white parts only, sliced
2/3 cup of frozen peas (use as much as you like, I am just guessing an amount)
2 tbsp flour
1 tbsp of Dijon mustard
1/4 cup heavy cream (you can use more depending on how much chicken you are using)
salt & pepper
1 sheet of frozen puff pastry, defrosted

Start the dish by sauteing the leeks and onion in butter on medium heat, just till soft. Add in the peas and the cooked chicken and cook about 2 minutes, just to combine everything. Season liberally with kosher salt & pepper (sea salt is good too).

Since I used one pan, I cooked the "roux" the lazy way, all in the same pan......I added flour, mustard and heavy cream, salt & pepper directly into the pan and cooked this for another 2 minutes, mixing everything together.
There won't be a lot of sauce, just enough to thicken the mixture.

Let completely cool before covering with the puff pastry, or the pastry won't cook properly (trust me on this).

Roll out the pastry dough and fit over the contents in the skillet (or a pie dish), tucking in and folding over the sides into the skillet/dish. Make some slits with a sharp knife to vent, and brush with an egg wash.

Bake in a 400F oven for 25-30 minutes, until nice and golden.

This is the stuff of my dreams. So comforting and delicious.

Sometimes leftovers are better than the original dish!

Leeks rule!