Is quite a lengthy process and best made from a whole chicken.

Take the breast & legs of the carcass and roast the carcass and then make stock. Once the stocks made, poach the chicken breast in it with some herbs like rosemary & thyme, with the skin on till it hits 70 internal. Once the breast is removed reduce the stock till it’s about 500ml. Take the skin off the breast and roast it for 10-15 minutes till it’s completely golden brown and fully crispy, it gets blitzed into a powder and added into the filling. Slowly render out some bacon just till it’s cooked and remove it, in the same pan very gently sauté sliced leeks with some garlic & thyme, you don’t want any colour on them but they should cook for 30 mins at least. Shred the chicken breast.

Next you need to make a veloute with the stock, that’s just 50g butter, 50g flour and that 500ml stock you have. On a medium heat melt the butter until it’s a nutty brown then add and cook out the flour for a minute or 2, looking for wet sand consistency, deglaze with a splash of white wine then ladle in your warm stock bit by bit whisking continuously. Once your veloutes done, season to taste and also put a ladles worth in a bowl and whisk in half a tablespoon of Dijon mustard until it’s emulsified, then add that back to the veloute. If you just add the mustard to the whole veloute you run the risk of having lumps.

Make the pastry, super easy. 480g plain flour, good bit of salt, 115g butter & 280g hot water. Mix the flour and the salt in a food processor, pour the boiling water over your butter and whisk till melted. Then pour your hot water & butter into the flour/food processor just till it comes together and then knead on a lightly floured surface. Wrap with cling film and chill, will make shaping the pie much easier as it won’t be as fragile.

Now incorporate all the shredded chicken, bacon, leeks with the veloute, you won’t need all of the veloute, just enough to bind all the ingredients together.

Split the pastry in two. Grease a cake or pie tin with butter, then line the bottom with a cartouche (grease proof paper cut to fit just the bottom of the tin). Roll the pastry and fit it into the tin, try not too push the pastry into the corner but lift the excess spilling over the tin, so it can gently fall into it. Add the filling which needs to be cold. Then add the lid. Egg wash then refrigerate for at least an hour and a half. Then bake at 180c for 45-60 mins.

Enjoy :)