Summer comforts

Last time I checked it was meant to be august and we should have lovely summer weather but as I'm sure most of you have realised the weather isn't exactly matching the season. When it gets cold, wet and windy all I crave is home cooked comfort food and chicken, leek and bacon pie fits the bill perfectly in this case. When it comes to pies I think most of the time you can get away with using ready made pastry as it's just as good as home made stuff. Of course if you wanted to make special pastry like cheese pastry then i'm all for making it from scratch but in times like this then its the shop bought stuff for me. I found this recipe in Cook in Boots which has a whole chapter on comfort food which is amazing and perfect for this weather. I served the pie with some sweet potato mash and all together it was a hug on a plate that was much needed. Below is the original recipe but I added some bacon in with the chicken because everything is better with bacon.

Cock-a-leekie Pie
Serves 6

8 chicken thighs, skinned, boned and chopped into bite-sized chunks
salt and pepper
1 large knob of butter
2 leeks, trimmed and chopped into thick chunks
250g chestnut mushrooms, halved
leaves stripped from 4 bushy sprigs of thyme
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp plain flour
1 glass white wine
200ml double cream
3 tbsp flat leaf parsley
375g ready made puff pastry


Preheat oven to 200°c/gas 6. Season the chicken and fry in the butter until sealed on all sides and it has some colour on it. Add the leeks, mushrooms, thyme and lemon zest. Once the mushrooms are nutty and brown, sprinkle in the flour and keep stirring for a minute, then pour in the wine. When the wine has nearly evaporated, pour in the cream and lemon juice, mix and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in the parsley and put in the bottom of a large pie dish. Leave to cool.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until 1cm thick and drape over the pie dish. Cut away the excess pastry and go around the edge with a fork pressing it down. Brush with beaten egg or milk and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Serve with mash and enjoy.