Tag: leek

Quick post today to introduce the chicken and leek pie

A quick post today to bring to your attention the addition of a recipe I really like: the chicken and leek pie.  The title may seem a lot of work but in the end, can be done quite rapidly as different preparation steps can be done at the same time.

This recipe was an “on the spot” inspiration. I had not researched anything.  It started with a friend mentioning she had a chicken and leek pie in the oven. I was intrigued and gave it a go!

tourte poulet poireau

Other pies I have done (no photos were taken, unfortunately) this year are two of the Bourke Street Bakery pies. I have done them a few times and very successfully.   The only differences there were that I made a family version of them (instead of the individual pies) and blind-baked the pie casing a little (as for a quiche).  The pies were the humble beef pie and the spinach ricotta pie.

Leek and chicken pie

This leek and chicken pie recipe is born from what was in my kitchen one evening after a friend mentioned doing a leek and chicken pie. Interesting I thought!  And shortly afterwards I had to try something on that line.  I am very happy with this leek and chicken pie recipe. Bechamel, ricotta and parmesan link the flavour, additional vegetable fill in the volume and add texture.  The only difficulty is around the cooking and the unmoulding.  I will give a few tips below, up to you to chose what to adopt.

You can adapt some of the ingredients according to taste or what you have in the fridge. For example, I have swapped the broccoli for mushrooms more recently.

tourte poulet poireau

Ingredients:
  • 1 quantity of shortcrust pastry (200 g plain flour, 100 g soft butter,  about 1/2 cup of water). Follow the link HERE for the method. (PS- if you are not too used to pastry making, make a little more so not to stress out. Leftovers can always be used for other dishes). You should have enough to make the lid of the pie as well. You can choose to use puff pastry for the lid.
  • 1 large leek
  • 3 garlic gloves
  • 1/2 red onion
  • 1 double breast of chicken (or use chicken thigh fillets)
  • 1 small bechamel (based on 1/4 L of milk) (recipe on this page)
  • 1 cup of ricotta
  • 1 cup of broccoli heads
  • 1/2 cup of parmesan
  • 1 egg (alternative 2 eggwhites if you need to use some)
  • salt & pepper
Method:
  1. To make the pie, use a 22 cm diameter springform cake tin. This will allow you to make the pie high and also help with removing the pie from the tin. Grease the tin and line the bottom, then the sides with baking paper.
    Tip: the removal of the pie needs to be planned here. The pie tin will be lined with baking paper. The difficulty is to transfer it once cooked without keeping the baking paper which is at the bottom. If you have an extra-large thin metal spatula, this may work. You can also use the bottom of the removable tart tin to that effect.  The other way is to use two lengths of baking paper (40 cm or so), folded to make two long 5 cm wide strips which we will place diagonally (not at a right angle, more like 45 degrees) at the bottom of the pie dish just below the pastry. We can use them once cooked and cooled a little to lift the pie gently, then pull them out of the way. This sounds tricky however it works. 
  2. Use 2/3 of the pastry and roll the pastry until there is enough to extend to the bottom and sides of the pie. Place it at the bottom of the tin. Place a tea towel roughly inside and put in the fridge (this will firm up the dough)
  3. Cut the chicken in pieces about 1 cm long. Crush the garlic, and cut the onion finely. Cook in a frying pan in a little olive oil. Season with salt and pepper but not as much as to reach your taste (the cheese is salty as well). let the juices evaporate and set aside.
  4. Cut the leek in 2 cm sections, clean as required. In another frypan, place a little olive oil and reduce the leek in slow heat. Towards the end add the broccoli heads to cook them just to a crunch.
  5. In a large bowl, mix in a few movements only the chicken, leek, parmesan, bechamel, ricotta and egg. Check the seasoning and adjust. Pour in the pie. Roll the remaining pastry and make a lid. Brush with an egg yolk or a little milk to allow a nice colouring during baking.
  6. Bake on pizza setting (the heat needs to come from the bottom to cook the pastry) at 170°C for 45-60 minutes.

tourte poulet poireau tourte poulet poireau

The leek, a winter vegetable

Leek, a winter vegetable, here are three dishes.

If you have grown up in the northern part of Europe, you would have had quite a bit to do with leeks. After all, it is one of the few  green vegetables available in winter.  To be fair, as a child, I did not like them so much. Now, it is different, I like their versatility and in winter I like using them in various dishes.

L’euf cocotte

L’oeuf cocotte is a bit like the onion tarte, a winter warmer. It is simple and easy to make.  Make it as an entry or a main.  The bottm, underneath the egg is where you will find the leek. The leek has been cooked slowly and has like melted to a soft conistency, and so tasty!   Recipe HERE.

oeufs cocotte ready for baking

 

 

 

 

 

The typical northern France soup

Poireau, carotte, pomme de terre, that is leek, caroot, potatoe.  This is the classic soup from northern France.  The potatoe helps binding the carott and the leek.  For 6 people, you will need one leek, 1 large potato and 2 carotts. Peel, clean and cut the vegetables, place them in a saucepan with one tablespoon of rock salt and cover with water. Cook until tender and blend.

You can add a spoon of sour cream in each soup plate or bowl when serving.

Also note, there is no ned to use chicken or vegetable stock, this would only add salt and there is plenty taste as is.

The flamiche or leek tarte

This is a tarte, not a quiche.  That means there is only one or two eggs and a little cream. It is rather light.  You will need at least two leeks. Similarl than for the oeufs cocotte above, you need to melt them in a covered pan. In the meanwhile, prepare a shortcrust pastry and place it over a tarte dish.   the pastry doesn’t need to be pre-cooked.

When the leeks are ready, remove from the heat. Still in the frypan, add salt and pepper to taste, a pinch or cumin or nutmeg is desired. Add 1 large tablespoon of flour, 2 eggs and up to 150 mL of cream. Mix all and put over the pastry. Cook at 180°C.

While I get around t0 do it for my blog, taking ice photos and posting a recipe, I am sharing one recipe from the Delicious magazine which doesn’t look so bad, although uses way more cream than the “real” flamiche.

Other cooking photos the last few weeks

I had been struggling with my croissants, the lamination (layeing of butter and dough for the non-techical) never seemed to work well. Last weekend it did, there is something to do with controlling temperatures, I will make more soon to make sure it was not a happy accident!

There are also these beautiful sourdough baguettes that seem to slide out of my oven twice a week.

Oeufs Cocotte (eggs on bed of leek fondue)

Oeuf cocottes, what a classic! But you kow what, it is part of these classic dish you forget for quite some times, even possibly some years and then somehow you think of them and they are so good! No nostalgia here, just simple ingredients put together. Beautiful. Healthy. Vegetarian and full of protein. Gluten free. What else? Ah! Easy to make!

oeufs cocotte ready for baking

Ingredients:
  • You will need one leek for 2 persons for the size of the ramequin dish
    ramequins you can use
    Left one for a main, right one for an entree

    on the photo.  Don’t worry if you cook too much leek, you can always use them in another serie of oeuf cocotte or in a quiche, in a vegetable tarte or served with a nice fish fillet.

  • About 15 g of butter for 2 person, up to 40 g if doing for 6 people.
  • 1 egg per peron (freerange)
  • 2 tablespoons of cream /person
  • salt, pepper, pinch of nutmeg or of cumin
  • Optional: 1 baby boccocini per person or a little grated parmesan
  • Sourdough bread to serve
Method:
  1. Remove any external leaf of the leek if old and brown. You may not have to remove any, up to 2  leaves maximum. Trim the top end bit if not from your garden.leek preparation
  2. On a chopping board, using a large knive to cut 2 cm pieces using the whole leek.  The darker part of the leek will need cleaning, it is not necessary for the lower hite part. Once the pieces are cut, place in water then in a salad spinner and drain of its water.
  3. In a heavy bottom fry-pan, melt the butter and add the leek. Cover and allow to cook slowly until melted and cooked. Add salt and pepper.  if it sticks or tends to burn, bring the heat further down and add 1/4 cup of water maximum just to rehydrate the whole mix.
  4. Fill each ramequin 2/3 full with leek. Add 2 tablespoon of cream to each, the pinch of nutmeg or ground cumin if using. Gently break the egg over the leek and add the cheese.
  5. Bake in the oven on 180°C for 5 minutes or until the egg white is just cooked (it will be all white and no longer transparent). The yolk should then still be runny. Remove from the oven and serve with fresh or toasted sourdough bread.

oeufs cocotte ready for baking