Whether you’re slicing through pastry or peeling back parchment, unveiling delicious ingredients brings fun and pageantry to the table
Only £1.38 PER SERVING
SERVES 6
HANDS-ON TIME 55 mins
TOTAL TIME 1 hr 50 mins, plus cooling and chilling
CHICKEN AND CHORIZO PITHIVIER
A pithivier is a round, enclosed puff pastry pie, which can be filled with whatever takes your fancy. If you don’t have chorizo, you could use bacon in the pie filling instead.
◆ 1 tbsp olive oil
◆ 125g cooking chorizo or chorizo ring, skinned and chopped
◆ 2 onions, thinly sliced
◆ 3 garlic cloves, crushed
◆ 260g young spinach
◆ 200g leftover roast chicken, shredded
◆ 4 tbsp crème fraîche
◆ 500g Maris Piper potatoes, or similar
◆ 2 x 320g sheets ready-rolled puff pastry
◆ plain flour, to dust
◆ 125g mature cheddar cheese, grated
◆ 1 medium egg, beaten
1 Begin by cooking the chorizo and chicken filling. Add the olive oil to a large pan over a medium heat and cook the chorizo for a few minutes until it has released its oil. Add the onions, season and cook for 10 minutes or until the onions are soft and starting to caramelise.
2 Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes then add the spinach in batches, cooking until it has wilted. Remove from the heat and add the shredded chicken and crème fraîche. Season to taste then tip into a bowl. When cool, chill until ready to assemble.
3 Peel and cut the potatoes into 3-4mm thick slices. Boil in salted water until tender; 5-8 minutes depending on thickness. Use a slotted spoon to gently remove them to a tray lined with a clean tea towel and leave to steam dry and cool.
4 Unroll one sheet of pastry on a floured surface and roll out with a rolling pin to more of a square shape, then transfer to a lined baking tray and cut out a 28cm diameter circle (use a dinner plate to cut around). Chill in the fridge or freezer until firm.
5 Season the potato slices then lay a quarter of them onto the chilled pastry disc, leaving a 2.5cm border all around. Next add a third of the chorizo filling, followed by a third of the cheese. Repeat, gradually forming a dome shape, finishing with a layer of potato.
6 Brush beaten egg around the exposed border. Next roll out the second sheet of pastry as before and drape over the top. Gently smooth over the filling and press the edges to seal, then trim off the excess and crimp the border. Brush with egg and chill again while you preheat the oven to 200°C, fan 180°C, gas 6 (or see ‘Get ahead’, below left, if prepa
