Today, I think I have finally cracked the recipe for Chicken and Leek Pasties, so I am recording it for posterity (this is about attempt #5, I think). It's based on a recipe from the Goodman of Paris (a late 14th century household manual written by a wealthy burgher for his much younger wife). My recipe differs quite a bit from his, and it's taken me a few goes to get it right.


Here's the Goodman's original recipe:
Chickens be set in a pasty on their backs with the breast upward and large slices of bacon on the breast, and then covered.
Item in the Lombard manner, when the chickens be plucked and prepared, take beaten eggs (to wit yolks and whites) with verjuice and spice powder and dip your chickens therin; then set them in the pasty with strips of bacon as above.

Now, the big problem I have with this recipe is, of course, my inability to eat bacon. (Technically I shouldn't eat gluten either but my reaction isn't as bad). But without the bacon, the chicken's very boring by itself. And the Goodman also implies you need breast meat, which is quite dry. However, the solution is to use thigh meat, which has much more fat than the breast. The fat renders down while cooking, meaning the chicken stays moist and flavoursome. I got the idea for adding leeks from Jamie Oliver's Christmas show, where he made a chicken and leek pie that had me wanting to leap into the screen and devour it.

So, without further ado...

Leoba's Chicken and Leek Pasties
1kg packet ready rolled puff pastry (6 sheets)
500g chicken thigh fillets
3 leeks
40g butter
2 eggs
2 tbs verjuice
1 tsp mustard powder
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius (390 Farenheit).

Cut the white part of the leeks, and fry in the butter. If necessary, put the fried leeks in a food processor and pulse them for a bit, because you want them well chopped, but not mushy.

Cut the chicken into rough chunks, then combine in a food processor with the eggs, verjuice, mustard and pepper, and process until it's quite finely chopped, but not mushy. You don't want to overprocess the chicken into goo. There should still be visible chunks.

For appetiser sized pasties, cut each pastry square into 9 pieces. Put a teaspoon of leek onto one half of the pastry square, and flatten it slightly, then put a teaspoon of chicken mix on top of the leek. Make sure you leave a gap between the edges of the pastry and the filling. Then fold the pastry square into a triangle, pressing the edges together. Prick the top of each pasty with a fork to allow steam to escape during the cooking process.

For main sized pasties, cut each pastry square into 4 pieces. You can use about 2 desert spoons of leeks and 2 desert spoons of chicken mix. Make up the pasty as above, folding the pastry into a triangle, pressing the edges together, and pricking the top.

Cook for about 15-20 minutes. You may need to swing your trays around halfway through the cooking.

Makes 54 appetiser sized pasties or 24 main sized pasties.

Yum yum yum yum yum...