Nursery Foods: Chicken Pie & Sticky Toffee Puddings

I really hope you enjoy making and eating these as much as we did.I make individual ones, as my lot all come home at different times and I find it easier to keep in the fridge until they arrive home. 

Chicken Pie

1 leek

3 stalks of fresh thyme

20g butter 

2 tbsp olive oil non virgin

2 rashers of bacon

700g cubed chicken

2 chicken stock pots or cubes mixed into 300 ml boiling water

2 tbsp double cream

a packet of fresh puff pastry or homemade if you have time.

an egg beaten with a fork

Slice the leeks into discs the thickness of £1 coins

Heat the butter and oil in a 10x3 inch frying pan

Snip the bacon into small lardons and fry gently until light pink

Add the chopped leeks and leaves from the thyme salute until really soft

With a slotted spoon remove the leeks and bacon leaving behind the oil.

Turn up the heat and fry the chicken until all the pink on the surface has gone, add the leeks back into the pan. Turn the heat back to medium.

Continue to cook for 5 minutes the add the chicken stock reduce by half. 

Roll out the pastry to just cover the frying pan or pie dish.

Stir in the double cream until well combined. Leave to cool. Transfer into a pie dish or individual ones if prefered. 

Preheat the oven 200˚c

Cover the filling with the pastry and score lines gently making diamond shapes across the top, brush with a little beaten egg, bake for about 25-30 minutes until golden and puffy, serve immediately.  

Individual Sticky Toffee Puddings  

175g soft brown sugar
60g soft unsalted butter
200g self raising flour
3 tbsp golden syrup
2 egg 
300g dried dates/prunes
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
300 ml boiling water

For the toffee sauce:
150g Dark brown soft sugar
100g butter
250 ml double cream                      preheat the oven to 180
8 buttered ramekins

1. Boil a kettle and pour 250ml of boiling water over the 250g of the fruit, cover and leave for 10 minutes.Chop the remaining 50g of fruit and place into the bottom of the buttered ramekin dishes 

2. In a freestanding machine whisk together the sugar and butter, until light and fluffy

3.Turn the machine to slow and add the syrup and eggs

4. Sieve the flour and bicarbonate and add to the mixture whisk until well combined

THEN:

1. Add the bicarbonate soda to the fruit and puree with a hand held blender or in the food processor
2. Add to the batter and spoon into a 8 buttered ramekins
3. Bake for about 30-40 minutes in a preheated oven.
4. For the toffee sauce put all the ingredients into a pan over a medium heat, stir until everything is melted and well combined.
5. Turn out the puddings and spoon over the sauce