Truffled chicken pie

Dismal weather today. Really, really cruddy. Our overflow waterbutt went from being 1/2 full on Friday to totally full this evening. It was grey and I actually had to hunt out a woolly cardigan.

So the plan to bbq some German sausages fell by the wayside. So did the warm salad and the stirfried seafood that had crossed my mind. In weather like this if it isn't a soup it's a stew and if it isn't a stew it is a savoury pie. It is the only way.

I had one of Jude's Thighs tucked away in the freezer and I thought the remnant of jellied, savoury juices and tender, flavourful meat were a good beginning on a chicken pie. In consultation with the other person eating the pie, it was decided on double crust, puff pastry, leeks and mushrooms. It was also decided that a bit of sliced white truffle would not be a flavour too far and would make it worthy of the wine that we wanted to drink.

Plans came a little unstuck when we discovered that the packet of pastry we bought was insufficient for a double crust... So I present to you:

Truffled chicken lattice pie

Sweat 2 finely chopped washed leeks in butter very very slowly with 6 whole cloves of garlic. Add a handful of mushrooms, sliced, and sweat further. When all the liquid has disappeared, deglaze with a slosh of dry sherry and allow to cool.

In a bowl combine the shredded meat and skin from a leftover cooked chicken thigh, the darkly jellied juices, a small tub of reduced-fat creme fraiche, a teaspoon of dijon mustard, a packet of smoked bacon lardons, half a jar of sliced truffles, 3/4 of a beaten egg and 6 chicken thigh fillets (raw), chopped. Add the cooled leeks and mushrooms and season well with pepper (doesn't need salt).

Pack into a pie dish lined with puff pastry and top with strips of pastry in a lattice. Glaze with the remaining 1/4 beaten egg (this is why you read a recipe the whole way through before you start cooking, people) and bake at 180C for about 45-50 minutes until the pastry is well browned and the filling is cooked through. Give it another 10 minutes if you are super-paranoid about the hint of pink on chicken.

Serves 4 if you do side veg, or 2 with a very tasty lunch for a lucky person...

Very truffley, but the other flavours aren't completely lost. This is a big, butch savoury pie and this is no time to muck around with a delicate little white wine - the 1999 Pauillac bordeaux was really good with it.