Ingredients
- For the filling
- 1 large onion, finely grated
- knob of butter, melted
- 75g (2½oz) fresh white breadcrumbs
- 125g (4½oz) smoked streaky bacon, finely chopped
- 340g (11¾oz) sausagemeat with black pepper and nutmeg
- 1½ garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 60g (2¼oz) dried cranberries, roughly chopped
- 3 chicken stock cubes (Jane used OXO), crumbled
- 1½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ – 1 tsp allspice
- ½ unwaxed lemon, zest only
- 1 chicken breast, skin removed and cut into 1cm/½in-thick slices
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- For the pastry
- 200g (7oz) lard
- 575g/1lb (4½oz) plain flour
- 1½ tsp salt
- oil or lard, for greasing
- 1 free-range egg, beaten for egg wash
- fresh bay leaves, to decorate
Directions
- Grease a 900g (2lb loaf) tin with oil or lard and line with baking paper.
- For the filling, tip all the ingredients into a large mixing bowl apart from the chicken. Mix together using your hands until well incorporated. Season generously with salt and pepper. Take a teaspoon of the mixture and fry until cooked. Taste to check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
- For the pastry, put 200ml (7fl oz) water and the lard in a saucepan. Heat until the lard is melted, then bring to the boil.
- Put the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, pour in the melted lard mixture and stir well to combine using a wooden spoon. When cool enough to handle, knead in the bowl to form a smooth dough. Set aside a quarter of the dough and wrap in cling film.
- Preheat the oven to 375F.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the remaining dough to about 1cm/½in thick. Use this to line the loaf tin, making sure that any tears or gaps in the pastry are filled. Roll out the reserved pastry to make the pie lid.
- Fill the tin with alternating layers of the sausagemeat mixture and chicken slices. Cover with the lid and pinch the edges to seal. Cut off any excess pastry and make a hole in the middle of the lid using a sharp knife.
- Brush the top of the pie with egg wash and bake for 1 hour 15–20 minutes. The pies are cooked when the centre of the meat filling reaches 165F on a meat thermometer and the pastry is deep, golden-brown. Leave to cool completely in the tin.
Tips/Techniques
For this recipe you will need a 900g (2lb) loaf tin.
Note: This recipe contains U.K. measurements and may require conversions to U.S. measurements. It has also not been professionally tested.
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