Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie

When it’s cold, dark and wet outside there’s nothing nicer than getting cosied up inside with some good old comfort food. Thing is, many of us reach for the wrong kind of comfort food and it can leave us feeling even more slovenly and therefore far less likely to make sensible food choices in future, and also less likely to feel motivated to exercise.

I’ve come up with a recipe that’s both healthy and ticks the hygge comfort food box all at the same time. Using hemp milk instead of cream and sheets of filo pastry for the top, my Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie keeps it nice and light in calories and carbs, but packs a mean old punch in the flavour department. Give it a go and let me know what you think!

What’s In It?

500g chopped Chicken Breasts
1 finely chopped Leek
100g sliced Mushrooms
300ml Unsweetened Hemp Milk
4 sheets of Filo Pastry (halved)
50g Hemp Seeds
30g Butter
1 clove crushed Garlic
2 tbsp Hemp Oil
2 tbsp Plain Flour
2 sprigs of fresh Thyme

How Do I Make It?

Gently heat the hemp milk in a saucepan and add the chicken and thyme. Poach the chicken for 15 minutes.

Whilst the chicken is cooking, heat 1 tbsp of hemp oil in a large frying pan and add the leeks and garlic. Cook until the leeks have softened, before adding the mushrooms and cooking for a further 5 minutes.

Drain the chicken over a jug so that none of the thyme infused milk is lost. Stir the chicken into the leek and mushroom mixture.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir in 1 tbsp of the flour to make a paste. Pour in the hemp milk and thyme and stir stir stir! Simmer for 10 minutes, making sure to stir continuously so that the sauce doesn’t burn at the bottom of the pan.

Remove the sprigs of thyme from the sauce and pour over the chicken, leek and mushroom mix.

Gradually add another tbsp of flour, stirring continuously until thickened. Season with salt and black pepper.

Spoon the mixture into a pie dish and cover with the sheets of pastry.

Brush with hemp oil and scatter the hemp seeds over the top.

Cook in a preheated oven at 180ºC for 30 minutes.

Serve with heaps of green veg and some crusty bread for sauce dunkin’!