Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Chicken and Mushroom Pie is a classic; this one takes the pot pie approach using shop-bought puff pastry to make a simple midweek dinner.

Chicken and Mushroom Pie

It would seem that food from my youth is increasingly becoming a thing at the moment. This chicken and mushroom pie recipe joins my recent Mutton Hotpot, Scotch pie and broccoli and stilton soup.

That is ignoring the wondrous treats I have for you in the pipeline.

I suppose it is no surprise to me that my inner ‘Brit’ comes out in a food sense when we hit autumn.

Soups, stews and pies really are what us Brits do best when it comes to food, particularly if you are of a certain age… And that age is not particularly ancient!

The filling for this chicken pie recipe is wonderful and really simple.

The clue really is in the name; it really is just a chicken and mushrooms with a creamy sauce. They are classic flavours that I also play with in my chicken en croute, chicken a la king and chicken forestière recipes.

The addition of spinach and mustard rounds out the creamy filling, which makes a cracking sauce for the wedges I served it with!

If mushrooms ain't your thing, then you should check out my chicken and leek pie and chicken and bacon pie recipes!

Is it OK to Use Store-Bought Puff Pastry?

I have a complicated relationship with pastry. Sure, I can make it, but it always seems like a boatload of work for very little positive gain.

I only insist on making two types of pastry from scratch. Hot crust pastry for a pork pie and the like, and suet pastry for steak and kidney pudding… Which, despite the name, is definitely a pie!

Although I have taken to making shortcrust pastry for my cheese and onion pies and Cornish Pasty recipe. But if I could buy it locally, I certainly would!

But when it comes to things like this, an easy chicken and mushroom pie recipe, then store-bought puff pastry is fine. In fact, it is not just fine, it is perfect!

Good quality store-bought puff pastry will likely be superior to anything you can make at home.

Mechanisation is not always a bad thing.

The ability to keep everything cold and work the pastry very little is very important. It leads to a better pastry than you can make in your hot kitchen!

I am sure there are many out there who consider this sort of chicken and mushroom pie cheating!

You will be surprised to know that I really don’t care…

A pie entirely encased in pastry is a wonderful thing. However, a simple puff pastry topping with a great filling is good enough for a recipe to tick the pie box for me!

British Pie Recipes

In the main, the word pie to most British people means a savoury recipe. There are notable exceptions like apple pie or lemon meringue pie.

Whether it be a pasty like these Cornish pasties, which would be called hand pies in the US, or a beef and ale pie, our pie tastes are definitely savoury.

In the UK, pies are available everywhere, whether that be pub menus through to baker's shops and of course the halftime pie at football matches.

Of course, there are then the infamous pie and mash shops in the East End of London, sadly a dwindling tradition!

But not all of our pies are pastry-based, the mutton hotpot I mentioned earlier is a free-form kinda pie…

And if you tell a Brit that a shepherds pie or cottage pie is not a pie, you will be shunned… And rightly so!