THERE was a three week period when we had a sporadic dusting of sunshine. I’m sure most will agree. But I have to say, I was sure that the back to school week, as has been tradition, was to bring a bout of sunshine…. Alas, six days of September have adorned our calendar and there has been nothing to write home about. Thankfully, we have food to bring some colour to our lives. And this haul of colourful treats came from the Cornstore at home.
With the store branching out to include some extra special delights and treats, it’s nice to grab a few and use them. As part of their Cornstore At Home Challenge Competition, I picked up €50 worth of products from the shop and with the help of some store cupboard essentials, I tried to do as many dishes as I could.
The monthly challenge is for the public to cook food for four and include a bottle of wine in the €50 worth of purchases from the store and post pictures of the results to facebook or twitter and be in with a chance to win dinner for four at the restaurant.
First off is the Chicken Pie with roast vegetables in the form of kohlrabi and rainbow carrots.
Other dishes that will feature products from the store will be:
Scotch Eggs with bagna coada (milk poached garlic, shallot, anchovy and thyme puree)
Smoked pumpkin and bacon risotto
Ummera smoked salmon and pickled cucumber salad
Individual sausage and lamb bakes
Curried pea and lettuce soup
Roast vegetables of york cabbage curls, sweet potato and rainbow carrots
Garlic and onion loaf
Valrhona Chocolate and Raspberry cake
Creme Brulee with a raspberry compote surprise
But that’s all to come… And so to the cooking.
Chicken Pie with roast vegetables
I think it takes a lot to beat the comfort of a pie and one of my favourites is a chicken and leek one at that. You can make this in several ways and even can be done when you come home from work if you had a smallest amount of prep done from the night before. Those vital five minutes can be the difference. Be sure to put in what you like and leave out what you don’t but here’s a starting point anyway. Nothing loves chicken more than thyme leaves so be sure to add them to your dish during cooking.
WHAT YOU NEED
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 onion chopped
3 cloves of garlic sliced
4 boned chicken thighs cubed
200g leeks sliced, white only
2tbls flour
150ml dry white wine
1pint chicken stock
200ml double cream
2 tsp English mustard
Salt and black pepper to taste
50g mixed chopped tarragon and flat leaf parsley
Fresh thyme leaves
500g ready rolled puff pastry
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of double cream
WHAT TO DO
Preheat oven to 180ºC / 350ºF. In a medium sized saucepan melt the butter and oil then fry the onions and garlic until they start to colour, about 10 minutes. Then add the chicken and cook for a further 5 minutes until the chicken is sealed. Add the leeks and flour stirring continually until they are well combined. Add the wine and chicken stock slowly until the sauce has thickened
Add the cream and mustard and then season. Take off the heat and stir in the herbs. Place the pie filling into a medium sized pie dish. Mix the egg yolk and cream together and then brush around the pie dish. Cover with pastry and cut around the sides with a knife
Brush the remaining egg mix over the pie. Poke a couple of small holes in the pastry to let out the steam. Cook in the oven for 25 minutes, remove from the oven and serve
To compliment the dish, I roasted the kohlrabi and rainbow carrots in some olive oil, thyme and pepper. To finish they were tossed in a little sea salt to extend the flavour further.
All in all, not a bad little combo if I do say so.
