A raised pie makes a great dish for serving cold with winter salads for any celebration meal, all the work has been done the day before. You can use turkey or game meat instead of chicken.
You will need a 1.5 litres capacity tin, ideally a spring form deep tin.
Serves 8
Ingredients
For the hot water crust pastry:
- 100g butter
- 100g lard
- 250ml water
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 550g plain or spelt flour
- 1 egg, for the egg wash
For the filling:
- 950g boneless chicken or turkey, cut into small cubes
- 100g smoked pancetta, diced
- 150g precooked chestnuts
- 85g dried cranberries
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 50g breadcrumbs
- Sprig of fresh thyme, sage and parsley, finely chopped
- 2 tablespoons sherry or white wine
For the jelly (optional)
- 300ml concentrated chicken stock
- 10g gelatine
Method
- To make the pastry, put the water in a saucepan. Cut the butter and lard into small cubes add to the pan.
- Place over a low heat and melt the fats, the water must not boil before they have melted.
- Place the flour and salt in a bowl. Once the fats have melted, increase the heat, and bring to the boil and as soon as it boils, take off the heat and pour over the flour.
- Mix everything together with a table knife to make a dough then knead a little using your hands until smooth. Let it rest whilst your assemble the filling.
- Preheat the oven to 190C (ESSE dial guide low end of hot). For the filling, using a large bowl mix the chicken, pancetta, chestnuts, cranberries, coriander, herbs, breadcrumbs, wine and seasoning well together.
- Butter your tin well and line your dish using three quarters of the pastry. Roll and mould it into the tin carefully without having any holes in the pastry. Pack the meat filling into the lined tin.
- Roll out the reserved quarter of the pastry, wet the edges of the pastry in the tin and place the lid on top. Trim the edges and crimp to seal, make a design on the top and cut a hole in the centre as a steam vent that will later be used to fill with the jelly.
- Egg wash the top and cook the pie for 1 1/2 hours or until the centre of the pie reaches 75C.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing from the tin. If you want to brown the sides, then increase the oven temperature to 230C (ESSE dial guide low end of very hot), brush the sides with little beaten egg and return to oven for a few minutes (cover the top with foil to prevent it getting too brown).
- If after cooking the pie is leaking, allow it to cool, then use soft butter to plug any holes. Allow the butter to firm completely by putting the pie in the fridge until the butter is hard. (The butter can be scrapped away after the jelly has been add and before serving).
- To make the jelly, soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for 5 minutes. Bring the stock to the boil, then dissolve the leaves in it. Carefully pour the jelly through the centre hole while the pie is still warm. Chill in the fridge overnight to set.
Winter comfort recipes prepared by Philippa Vine using the Ironheart wood-fired cooking stove at Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen and Cookery School in East Sussex.
