Chicken, Leek and Smoked Bacon Pie

I always keep a frozen package of pies in the freezer. You never know when you get a craving for a pie with peas and mash ;) And I'm just like a kid, a total sucker for the mini pies and sausage rolls....mmmmmm. I'd be one of those adults that hover over the kids food at the birthday party. Think fairy bread, mini pies, mini sausage rolls and baby frankfurts and of course loads and loads of tomato sauce! Do they still make that for kids parties? Not the ones I've been to anyway, I think it was just my era...........

Meat pies are a tick for me, but I detest the frozen chicken and vegetable pies. Even the so called "gourmet" ones. Sargents make a particularly bad one.

So yeah, if I want a chicken and veg pie, I'll have to make my own one.

Found this sweetly hickory smoked bacon at Woolies I wanted to try out. Loved it in the pie. But of course regular bacon will do the job, this was a little more fancy.

Chicken, Leek and Smoked Bacon Pie

Ingredients
1 Tablespoon oil
700g chicken thighs, chopped
6 slices of smoked bacon (shortcut, rindless)
1 carrot, diced
1 leek, thinly sliced (white part)
6-8 mushrooms, sliced
2 Tablespoons plain flour
1 teaspoon of preferred herbs (I used oregano)
1/2 cup cream
1 cup frozen peas and corn
1-2 sheets puff pastry

Method:

1. Heat oil in pan and cook the diced chicken, transfer to a bowl.

2. Now cook the bacon (2mins)

3. Add carrot and leek, stir well

4. Add the mushrooms

5. Throw in the flour and cook for a further 3mins

6. Add the chicken and herbs. Cook for another 5mins or so

7. Pour in the cream

8. Add the frozen veg and stir it through

9. Scoop them out evenly into 4-6 ramekins (depending how big your ramekins are).
You could line the base and edge with shortcrust pastry and blind bake it first, but I didn't.

10. Top it with puff pastry and maybe brush an eggwash over it.

11. Bake at 180 degrees for around 20mins