What's in the fridge? bucket cookery chicken pie recipe

Do you ever open up the fridge and look at the half packets of stuff that’s left in there? More to the point, do you ever clean out the fridge and find that you’re throwing away half packets of stuff in there?

Last night I made a chicken pie which was made from predominantly ingredients that were left in the fridge. The chicken was one which was cooked the day before, in the knowledge that the leftovers could be used for the pie, but the rest were ingredients that were essentially left over.

Sometimes I like to cook to a particular recipe, but sometimes I think this is unnecessary, and when it comes to cooking with a handful of ingredients I just happened to grab from the fridge, I tend to go for the latter, and then it becomes like a bucket cookery project. No two chicken pies are ever the same, although the principle is similar. So here is my bucket cookery style chicken pie recipe.

For the filling you’ll need some left over roast chicken. A whole chicken is preferable as opposed to just pre-cooked chicken breasts. They really just don’t taste the same as a chicken which has been roasted properly. If you only wanted to do a chicken pie without having had a roast the day before you could use skin-on chicken legs or thighs.

Then you’ll need either leeks or onions. I happened to have leeks in the fridge last night, so they went in. Slice them thinly, then separate the rings.
Garlic is optional too
Last night I threw in half a packet of streaky bacon which I sliced, and a handful of mushrooms which I also sliced.

Sweat the leeks and the garlic in a combination of butter and olive oil (not too much or it will be greasy), then add the bacon and mushrooms if using, and finally the chicken.

Then throw in a bit of white wine, don’t overdo it, about 125 ml, although I never measure it, I just pour it in until I think it’s enough. And I obviously appreciate that that is very subjective.

Cook off the wine, if you lean over the pan you can actually smell the alcohol evaporating, when you can’t smell that alcohol smell any more it’s cooked down enough, then throw in about a cup of chicken stock, more depending on how much chicken etc you have, and simmer for about ten minutes.

If you have some double cream you can put some of that in as well, and it gives the gravy a very nice taste. Last night I didn’t have any cream though.

As it’s a pie you obviously need pastry. Now, if you want to you can use shortcrust pastry which is easy enough to make, Rub together about nine oz flour with about five oz butter until it forms breadcrumbs, then put in about two/three tablespoons of cold water, mix it together until it forms a dough, you may need more water or flour depending on the consistency, put it in the fridge for about half an hour (wrapped in Clingfilm) and then roll out on a work surface.

But personally I like puff pastry, and if you’ve ever made puff pastry you’ll know that it takes hours of repeated making of pastry as above and then the adding and rolling in of butter at various intervals until it reaches the right consistency. Personally I just don’t have the inclination, especially given puff pastry costs about £1 for two packets in the supermarket.

So take the the pastry, roll it out and use half to line pie dishes (either a large one or small ones depending on your preference). Then spoon in the chicken filling, and roll the other half of the pastry into lids for the pies.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees C, and prick the lids of the pies, put them in the oven for around 20/25 minutes (again depending on the size) and then serve.

Voila, bucket cookery at its finest.

So you think presentation is everything?

Watch any TV chef, go into any restaurant kitchen and watch the chefs at work, and before they send out a dish they will ensure that the presentation is just right. In fact many will say that presentation is everything.

The world is full of recipe books, with ideas that range from how to make a simple sandwich or boil an egg, to elaborate dishes that would be the envy of any dinner party. But while there is a book for every kind of cook, they all have one thing in common – they are all full of pictures so you can get an idea of what your dish will look like before you even cook it, to build the anticipation, to imagine your meal before you’ve even taken the ingredients out of the packet. But how important is that really?

Of course, when you serve something it does need to look appetising. After all, a sandwich made from a couple of slices of dried bread and a few limp salad leaves isn’t going to inspire you to want to eat it. Equally a plate piled high with a multitude of ingredients can be visually overwhelming.

There are hundreds of blogs out there with the most delicious recipes and stunning pictures to go with them. But I want to offer the alternative view.

I want to use words to capture my readers’ imagination.

This blog is as the title says – the blind taste test.

If you couldn’t see your plate of food, would you still enjoy eating it? Could you close your eyes and take a mouthful of what you’re eating, something simple, a square of chocolate, and just taste it? Don’t imagine what chocolate looks like, just taste it?

I have cooked everything from soufflés to cheesecakes, from pasta to pies, and lots and lots of things in between.

I want to use this blog to share the art of taste over presentation. Not that presentation isn’t important, but merely to offer an alternative view.