Easy And Tasty Chicken Pasties Food

SPICY CHICKEN & BACON PASTIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C/ gas 7. Fry the bacon in a non-stick pan over a medium heat for a few mins, until it starts to release its fat. Add the potato, turn up the heat and fry for 5 mins, stirring occasionally, until the bacon is crisp and the potato just underdone. Add the chilli and cook for a further min. Season generously with black pepper, plus salt to taste.
• Tip into a bowl and mix with the shredded chicken and spring onions. Unroll the pastry and, with a rolling pin, roll out until it's large enough to cut out 4 circles of pastry, using a large saucer or a side plate as a guide, discarding the trimmings. Lift onto a baking sheet.
• Spoon the filling into the middle of each circle. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little milk, then bring them up to the middle, pinching at the top to make a pasty. Brush with a little milk, then bake for 15 mins or until golden.

EASY CHICKEN-N-PASTRY

Steps:

• Rinse chicken and discard giblets.
• In a large pot boil the chicken with bay leaves, salt and pepper.
• Remove the chicken to a platter to cool; once cool enough to handle, remove meat from the bones.
• Skim the fat from the broth and add enough water to get 4 or 5 qts (I use a skimmer cup).
• Bring broth to a rolling boil and drop the frozen pastry strips in a few at a time, stirring to separate and return to a boil before dropping in more.
• When all the strips are in the pot, reduce heat to medium-low and let boil a few minutes.
• Reduce heat to low and stir in chicken meat and cream of chicken soup, stirring until chicken soup is incorporated.
• Season to taste with black pepper- should already be salty enough from the cream of chicken soup, but taste and add salt if necessary.
• Remove from heat, cover and let stand 15 minutes before serving.
• I serve this with cornbread; green peas are a good side dish.

CORNISH COWBOY PASTIES

Steps:

• Marcy Tatarka, an absolutely lovely cook I met in Wyoming, was full of all sorts of local food knowledge. She told me that people in this part of America are really into their pasties! Turns out that in the 1920s and 30s, miners from Cornwall came over to work in Montana and it wasn't long before the locals developed a taste for the good old Cornish pasty. Their recipes haven't evolved radically since, but they do embrace local ingredients like chicken, squash and sage. Pastry isn't exactly health food, but a delicious pasty once in a while won't hurt you. If you like, you can make a slightly 'skinnier' pasty by reducing the butter to 200g and adding 50ml of olive oil. But frankly, if I'm making these I just go for it old-school style.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Bring your butter and water to the boil in a large pan, then take the pan off the heat. Stir the flour and 1 tablespoon of sea salt into the mixture bit by bit with a spatula, until you've got a dough. Tip it on to a floured surface and use your hands to shape it into a smooth ball. Put the ball of dough into a floured bowl, dust the top with flour, then cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes while you make the filling.
• Meanwhile, get a large pan and fry your chopped onion in a lug of olive oil for 10 minutes or until softened. Add the diced chicken and fry for 5 minutes until brown, then add the rest of the chopped vegetables and herbs. Fry for another 5 minutes, then add 3 or 4 good gratings of nutmeg. Season well with salt and black pepper, then pour in the chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce. Stir in the flour and simmer on a medium heat for 15 to 20 minutes, until most of the stock has cooked away and you're left with nice thick gravy.
• Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour, then divide your pastry dough in half and roll each half out until it's slightly thinner than 0.5cm. Use a cereal bowl (about 15cm in diameter) to cut 4 circles out of each half, so you end up with 8 circles. You may need to cut out 2 or 3 circles from each half first, then re-roll the remaining pastry to make the rest. Dust the circles with flour, and spoon your filling into the middle of each one. Brush the edges of the pastry with some of the beaten egg, then fold each circle in half over the filling and crimp the edges with your finger and thumb to seal them. If you want to see how this is done, check out this video on how to assemble a pasty.
• Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper, scatter a handful of cornmeal or polenta over the paper, and place your pasties on top. Brush the pasties all over with more of the beaten egg and sprinkle over a little more cornmeal. Bake in the hot oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden, and serve straight away with a fresh green salad. A taste of Cornwall in the Wild West - who'd have thought it!

EASY AND TASTY CHICKEN PASTIES

Steps:

• 1. On lightly floured surface, roll out pie crust to about 1/8-inch thickness, if thicker than that. Cut into six 6-inch circles, using a small plate or bowl as a guide.
• 2. Mix together all other ingredients, and spoon 1/6 of the mixture onto one half of each circle, within 1/2-inch of edges. Fold pastry over and pinch edges to seal. Cut three or four small vents on top of each pastie.
• 3. Bake on ungreased cookie sheet in 425 degree oven for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool a little and enjoy! *I always peel my celery before mincing; this not only gets rid of the "strings", the liquid from the celery is more readily released to moisten the chicken.

CHICKEN & ROOT VEGETABLE PASTIES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Pour the flour into a large bowl and add a pinch of salt. Cut the butter into slices, and put it into the bowl. Using your hands, rub the butter together with the flour until the floured butter is in the shape of small peas. Add the water, and mix the batter up until the dough is just moistened. Don't overwork the dough. You'll get a crumbly dough. If the dough looks a bit dry, add 2 more tablespoons of water. Pat the dough into a ball shape.
• Prepare the filling by mixing the chicken, shallot, carrots, parsnips, and celery together. Make sure that the diced vegetables are cut pretty small, roughly 1/4-inch cubes. Take the rosemary and thyme and remove the leaves from the stem. Give it a couple rough chops. Mix the nutmeg, salt, rosemary, thyme, and pepper with the chicken and vegetables.
• Divide the dough into 6 pieces. On a well-floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out the dough to an 8 1/2 inch circle. As you are rolling out the dough, make sure to turn it frequently to prevent the dough from being stuck to the surface. You can prepare all the dough at once, or work one pasty at a time. I chose the latter because I didn't have much counter space.
• Take a small handful of filling and place it in the center of the rolled out dough. You want to make sure that there is about an inch of clear space around the edge of the dough. Brush the egg white along this empty space.
• Fold the dough over the vegetables to create a semi-circle shape. Do this with confidence! Seal the pastry. You can crimp the edges with a fork or fold it like I did. When I folded the edges of the pasty, I brushed some egg along the edge so that the folds stayed put. Brush some of the egg wash over the entire pasty. Repeat these steps for the rest of the dough.
• Place the prepared pasties on the baking sheets and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pasties are golden brown.
• Best served immediately!

CREAMY CHICKEN AND GARLIC PICNIC PASTIES-PARCELS WITH BOURSIN

Steps:

• Heat oven to 200ºC, 400ºF, Gas Mark 6. Grease and line a large baking tray.
• Thoroughly mix together all the filling ingredients, seasoning with black pepper. (You can pre-fry the mushrooms if you wish.).
• Roll out the pastry to a 30 cm (12 inch) square, then cut into 4 squares, place them on the baking tray.
• Pile the ingredients into the middle of the pastry sqaures. With the back of a spoon firmly press ingredients together.
• Brush edges with milk, fold corners to the centre sealing edges.
• Brush with beaten egg or milk and bake for 35 minutes until golden brown.
• Eat warm or cold.

EASY CHICKEN & VEGETABLE PASTIES

Steps:

• Pre-heat your oven to 220ºC/200ºC fan
• Line your baking sheet with a non-stick cooking liner of grease with butter.
• Tear the chicken (75g) into smaller pieces with your fingers and put it into a large bowl. Add the sweetcorn (60g), peppers (45g), soft cheese (100g) and oregano (2 tsp) and mix until fully combined.
• Dust your work surface with a little flour and then roll out your pastry into a rectangle 2-3mm thick.
• Use a knife to cut the pastry into 6 squares (a dinner knife is fine, no need for anything too sharp).
• Evenly divide the chicken filling onto the centre of each square of pastry.
• Fold the pastry in half over the filling to form a triangle and then push down around the edges to seal in the filling. Use the prongs of a fork to push down the edges a little more to ensure they're sealed and leave a nice pattern.
• Place the pasties onto your baking sheet.
• Break your egg into a small bowl and beat it with a fork. Using a pastry brush, brush a little egg over the top of each pasty. Use your fork to prick a few holes in the top of each one.
• Pop them into the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the pasty is golden brown.
• Once cooked remove from the oven, either enjoy them hot (caution they will be very hot so allow them to cool a little) or pop them onto a cooling rack to cool before eating them cold.