Chicken Leek Pot Pie & Mini Ham Cheese Quiches

Chicken & Leek Pie And Mini Ham & Cheese Quiches

This chicken and leek pie is one of our family favourite meals.  If you haven't tried chicken and leek combination, you should, the flavours work so well together, they are a match made in heaven. 

I often make mini quiches together with this pie because it is a great way of using the left over puff pastry.

Chicken & Leek Pot Pie
This recipe will make 2 filled pot pies (my ramekin diameter size: 12 cm)


Ingredients:

For Filling

• A small knob of butter 

• Olive oil 

• 2 chicken breast fillets cut to small pieces

• 1 leek just the white part, chop finely

• 1 large carrot, peel and chop into small bits

• 1/2 cup frozen peas set aside in a bowl to thaw

• 500 ml chicken stock

• 1/4 cup of cream

• 2 table spoon of plain flour mixed with 2 table spoon of water

For Pastry

• 1 Sheet of frozen puff pastry. Leave the sheet out when doing prep to thaw the pastry

• 1 small egg beaten in a bowl for glazing on pastry 

Other Essentials

• Ramekins 12 cm in diameter. You can use whatever ramekin you have at home, just make sure that the pastry is cut a bit bigger than the diameter of your ramekin.

• Circular cookie cutter (slightly bigger in diameter than the ramekin, e.g. 13 cm in diameter) or a knife

• A brush (for brushing the egg wash on top of the pastry)

Method:

Chicken & leek Filling

1. Heat up the oven to 180 degrees celsius fan forced.
2. In a large pan on a medium heat stove, heat olive oil, add a small knob of butter, sauté leek and carrots until the leeks are softened. 
3. Add diced chicken, stir and cook until the chicken pieces are cooked through. 
4. Pour in chicken stock and let it simmer until the stock reduces a bit. 
5. Stir in the peas, let the mixture simmer until the peas are cooked.
6. Add cream and flour mixture, cook until the sauce thickens. Taste for flavour checking, add salt if necessary. Turn off the heat.
7. Pour the chicken mixture into the ramekins until the ramekins are full.

Pastry preparation

1. Using the cookie cutter / knife (if you don't have a cookie cutter you can use your ramekin to roughly cut a circular pastry shape that is bigger than the ramekin diameter), cut the pastry into two circular shapes.
2. Place the circular pastries on top of the ramekin and pinch the sides of the pie so that the pastry sides stick to the ramekin edges enclosing the pie.
3. Brush the top of the pastry evenly with the egg wash.
4. Place in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until the pastry is golden and cooked.

Mini Ham & Cheese Quiche 

I make this for my son's lunch box at kindergarten. Most kindergarten and schools in Australia don't have a microwave available, so quiches are great for lunch boxes as they can be eaten cold and eggs are a good source of protein & iron.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs

• A few slices of ham cut into small pieces 

• 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese 

• 1 sheet Frozen puff pastry, thawed

• Olive Oil

• Mini muffin tray 

• Circular cookie cutter a bit bigger than the mini muffin diameter

Method:

1. Using the cookie cutter, cut the pastry into circular shapes
2. Grease the mini muffin tray cups (about 10)
3. Press the pastry inside the mini muffin tray cups
4. Mix eggs, ham and cheese in a small bowl 
5. With a table spoon, pour in the egg mixture inside the pastry on the mini muffin trays
6. Bake for about 20 minutes