Jamie's chicken and leek pie

WITH all this miserable weather we have been having I wanted some comfort food, so I turned to Jamie Oliver's book, Jamie's Dinners. It's got a great selection of recipes and I loved the Chicken Tikka recipe I made from it before.

The ingredients list is pretty simple. I definitely need a sharper knife for boning and skinning the chicken thighs, but I got there in the end. The recipes is pretty easy to follow.
Unfortunately I don't think I reduced the sauce enough and as a result there was too much in the dish and it boiled over slightly. I also burnt the top of the pie, so keep an eye on the time. It was easy to flake the top off though, and the result was a homely, tasty, nutritious pie. I also love the added extra of sausage meat balls.

Serves 4
Here's the recipe:
Olive oil
2 knobs of butter
1kg of chicken thighs, cut into pieces (boned and skinned)
2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced into 1cm pieces
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 sticks of celery, finely sliced
A small handful of thyme, finely sliced (I used dried here)
2 tablespoons of flour
1 wineglass of white wine
285ml milk
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
225g good quality pork sausages
1 X 500g pack of all butter puff pastry

1 egg

Preheat the oven to gas mark 7. Take a large casserole pot and add a lug of live oil and your butter. Add the chicken, leeks, celery, carrots and thyme and cook slowly on the hob for 15 minutes. Turn the heat right up and add the flour and keep stirring for a couple of minutes before adding the wine, a wineglass of water and the milk. Season with a little salt and freshly ground black pepper, then cover with a tight fitting lid and simmer very slowly on the hob for 30 to 40 minutes until the chicken is tender.

Stir it every so often so it doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. The sauce should be loose but quite thick. If it's a little too liquid, just continue to simmer it with the lid off until it thickens slightly. (At this point you could let it cool and keep it in the fridge for a couple of days if you want to- it can also be easten as stew).

Pour the chicken mixture into an appropriately sized pie dish. Squeeze the meat out of the sausage skins, roll it into little balls, brown them in a little oil and sprinkle over the stew. Roll out your pastry to about 0.5cm thikcness. Egg-wash the rim of the dish and drape over the pastry, using a knife to trim the edge of the dish. Egg-wash the top of the pastry to make it go golden while cooking, then pinch it to crimp round the edges (there's not need to do this, but I like to as my mum always does it and it makes it look pretty).

I use the back of a knife to lightly criss-cross the top- this allows the pastry to go crisp and flaky. Cook the pie in the centre of the oven for about 30 to 40 minutes, until golden on top.

Yummy American style burgers

I HAVE been big into burgers lately and think I need to lay off the beef. But I did enjoy a particularly tasty one at Ed’s Diner in Wandsworth. They are a chain and a number across the country for you to try.
It is as you would expect from the word, diner- very American with shiny metal services and red seats. The staff were super friendly and helpful and it was busy for a Saturday lunch time.
I had The Original burger, with lettuce, tomato, onion, dill pickle, mayo and mild American mustard with fries and coleslaw for a healthy £10.20. The burger was the perfect thickness- not too thin or too fat with a nice grilled taste. I loved all the bits with it too, which was delicious.
There are also cheese burgers, chicken burgers, hot dogs and veggie options.
It’s a great place to stop during shopping although it did make me feel a bit sleepy afterwards. No doubt about it though they are good burgers.

Great Thai Food in Hereford

FOR those of you who love Thai food I would highly recommend the Thai Gallery restaurant in Broad Street in Hereford. It’s always busy, the service is efficient and friendly and the food is fresh and tasty. It’s reasonable too.
I went with two pals on a busy Saturday night. We opted to share a starter platter meant for two, between three of us. It was a good amount actually.
There was delicious chicken satay- the peanut sauce was not too thick and had that lovely creamy taste. The Khoong Noong Sarong- king prawns wrapped in pastry deep fried and served with a plum sauce- were moreish bites which looked like spring rolls.
I preferred the Popia- Thai mini spring rolls with pork, vermicelli and veg. I loved the texture of the pork inside the crispy shell.
The See Klong Moo Yang- roasted spare ribs in a special Thai honey sauce.- were delicious with enough meat on the bone which was very tender.
My favourite was the Tod Mun Pla- Thai fish cakes with Thai herbs, red curry paste and sweet chilli sauce and cucumber relish. They were so flavoursome and didn’t taste too fishy- the emphasis was on the herbs and red curry paste.
For the mains I went for the Thai Green Curry, which was pretty spicy! The veg was fresh and the beef was tender. It was a great curry. We also had Red Thai and a fresh healthy stir fry of prawns in oyster sauce.
With a bottle of prosecco between us and prawn crackers, it was £25, including a tip, which I think it is really reasonable for the quality of the food. I would thoroughly recommend.