Elmien’s Chicken Pie

Sep 28, 2026

Elmien Chicken Pie

Elmien’s Chicken Pie

Ingredients

    • 2 x 1.7kg Country Range whole birds

    • 900g x Mushrooms

    • Salt and pepper

    • 450g x carrots

    • Fresh garlic 1 and a half bulb

    • 450g x onions

    • 1 x sprig of rosemary

    • 100ml Oil

    • 100g Butter

    • 4-5 tsp Thyme

    • 1-2 tsp Paprika

    • 2-4 Chicken stock cubes

    • 2-3 long Bay leaves

    • 1 and ½ Mushroom flavoured soup

    • 250ml Cream

    • 1 double Brandy

    • Puff pastry x 1.5kg

Method

Chicken:

  1. Cut chickens into a flatties (remove backbone)
  2. Spice with salt and pepper
  3. Put in oven and roast until cooked.

Pie Sauce:

Pot 1:

  1. Add half oil and half butter in a pot.
  2. Add finely chopped onion (plus minus 350g and carrots cut into chunks
  3. Cook low and slow.
  4. Add half of the garlic and the backbone once onions are cooked.  Keep cooking low and slow.  (Other half of the garlic must go in the gravy).
  5. Add 1.5 tsp of thyme, 0.5 tsp of paprika, 2 cups of water and 2 chicken cube stock.  Continue to cook low and slow.
  6. Keep pan juices (from the 2 whole birds) for the gravy.  (If you are going to do a gravy).
  7. Add 15cm long fresh rosemary.
  8. By now the chicken should be ready and deboned.
  9. Add bones and skins to the pie sauce.
  10. Add 2 cups of water
  11. Add 2.5tsp of thyme
  12. Continue to cook the sauce low and slow.
  13. Add 3 long bay leaves
  14. Keep tasting and add salt when needed.
  15. Strain your stock (bones)(pie sauce).  Keep a quarter of the sauce for your gravy.
  16. Add a ¼ of the mushroom juice to the pie sauce.
  17. Add 1 packet of mushroom flavoured soup.
  18. Add your deboned chicken.  Remember to break up in small pieces.
  19. Add your cream and mushrooms from pot 2.
  20. The above needs to cool down completely before adding to your pastry.

Pot 2:

  1. In another pot add mushrooms and cook slowly.  (Use ¼ for the pie sauce later as stated above).
  2. Take mushrooms of the stove when cooked.
  3. Add oil and butter in the pot
  4. Fry the left over onions.
  5. Put the mushrooms back.
  6. Add 1 big tot brandy and fry for about 2 min.
  7. Add with your cream to the chicken.

Gravy:

  1. Take the leftover bones from your chicken pie sauce.
  2. Add the ¼ garlic.
  3. Add the chicken drippings.  Add water, more chicken stock and cook low and slow.
  4. You can thicken the gravy with flour.

Puff Pastry:

  1. Take some of the pastry and roll as thin as possible then fit into your pie dish.
  2. Add your chicken and mushroom filling.
  3. Cover the top of the dish with your puff pastry.
  4. Brush the puff pastry with milk or egg.
  5. Bake at 180 degrees in a pre-heated oven for 40 minutes.

Serve your chicken pie with mash and gravy or salad.

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