Chicken Pie for Kids

My children exasperate me daily with their refusal to eat anything remotely diverse.  Try as I might, getting anything that could be even loosely termed ‘vegetation’ into my son is a mission I have yet to complete.  My youngest daughter is two and fluctuates between trying random stuff to only accepting weetabix.  My hope lies with my eldest daughter who does, at least, give my cooking a try.  Today I concocted some mini chicken pies for them. I know, not exactly spice fusion, but anything beyond plain pasta is an adventure for them.  My tag line was ‘They’re like roast dinner – with a lid!”.  Surprisingly both my daughters scoffed the lot.  Son ate the pastry and after bemoaning the fact I had dared to put peas in it sat for 45 minutes until I forced him to eat three chunks of chicken.  I won the fight, but lost the battle.  And then the little monkey expected pudding!

Anyway, here’s what I gave them…

chicken pie kids

Mini Chicken Pies

Heat 1 tsp oil and a small knob of butter in a pan and fry 2 large chicken breasts cut into chunks, until they are turning golden.  Sprinkle 1tbsp of plain flour over the chicken and stir so it is all coated.  Transfer to a small casserole dish and add 1/2 pint chicken stock, a generous pinch of dried oregano and 30g ham batons/chunks.  With the lid on, bake in the oven for 30 mins at 180C.  Then stir and cook for a further 15 mins with the lid off.  Stir in 2 tbsps frozen peas and divide the mixture between 5/6 ramekins.

Using a sheet of puff pastry, cut circles to fit the dishes and egg wash the rim of the ramekins to stick the pastry circles down.  Place the pastry on top and egg wash liberally for a nice shine!  Poke the middle with a knife to let the steam out and then either:

a) Freeze for use another day

b) Pop in the fridge for later

c) Bake in the oven for 20 mins until the top is risen and golden

Because they are for kids, I tend to decant the contents on a plate so they don’t burn their fingers.  A shame as they look lovely in their little pots, but I’ll leave that one up to you and how savvy your kids are!

 I am a vegetarianThis works well as a vegetarian recipe by swapping the chicken for quorn, using veg stock and leaving out the ham.  I usually stick a bit of ‘shroom or onion in to pep it up a bit.

Yum

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