Chicken and ham filo pie

There’s nothing more comforting on a colder day than a homemade pie. There’s just something about the hearty filling and crisp pastry which makes it a favourite in our household (and across Yorkshire). Filo pastry makes this slightly lighter and less calorific than your average pie without compromising on the pie. I had to bat D’s hands away when I was photographing this as he kept stealing pieces of filo pastry to eat. Chicken pies are also a great way to use up leftover cooked chicken and to use cheaper bits of meal, I tend to use boneless chicken thighs in pies are the meat doesn’t dry out during cooking.

To make a filo pie you will need:

Approx 6 sheets of filo pastry

20g butter

6-8 filleted chicken thighs, cut into small pieces

1-2 handfuls leftover chicken (optional)

A large handful of cooked ham

1 onion, diced

2 leeks, sliced

1 clove garlic, crushed

Half a head of brocoli

200ml chicken stock

1/2 glass white wine

2 sprigs rosemary

Salt and pepper

1 large teaspoon low fat crème fraîche

Fry your onion, garlic and leeks on a medium heat until soft. Add your chicken, salt and pepper and cook for about 5 minutes until the chicken starts to look pretty much cooked. Add the ham, stock, wine and rosemary and cook for a further 10 minutes on a low to medium heat. Cut your brocoli into small pieces and cook for about 2 minutes (too much longer and it will be squishy in the pie). Take the filling off the heat and stir through the crème fraîche.

During this time preheat your oven to 180°C. Put your pie filling into a pie dish. To top your pie brush a thin layer of butter over your filo pastry, then scrunch up the pastry so that it partially covers the pie. Repeat until the whole pie is covered.

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. Here is my pie baking in my brand new oven! (Major household appliance excitement!)

Once the pastry looks crispy and golden remove from the oven and serve. This pie is extremely pretty and doesn’t take too long. Perfect for those nights when you want to make a bit of effort, but you also sort of want to sit in your slippers watching tv.