Chicken, stilton and leek pie

This was more of an exercise in clearing the fridge than an actual recipe, but it was delicious so I'm keeping it.

It's British Pie Week, so social media has been full of luscious-looking pie recipes, but I wanted something a little bit lighter. No creamy sauce, no stodgy gravy, just a lot of flavour. And a high filling-to-pastry ratio.

I browned some skinless chicken thigh fillets in a little olive oil and butter with a couple of branches of fresh thyme. And I mean browned, not just until they went white - they had a proper golden tan. Then I added a couple of leeks, washed and cut into chunks, and cooked them until they were soft. I added 2tbs of gin and 1tsp of grainy mustard (it's a home made one and is very yellow from turmeric) and let it cool.

Then I took a sheet of shortcrust pastry (bought, but a good all-butter one) and lined a small loaf tin with it, letting the excess hang over the edge. I packed in the chicken filling and topped it with 50g stilton cheese, then tucked the pastry in all around to seal. A bit of egg wash and a nice long stint in a 180C oven and there it was - a tasty pie for two. Warm bean and tomato salad with lots of lovely garlic was all it needed on the side.