I Spy Pies

Yes it is cooking day - yippee and, you guessed it, the theme was pies.

Now these weren't intended to be fancy pies, it was more a case of showing the lovelies how to make an easy and quick pie (using either filo, puff or shortcrust pastry - all store bought) with the option of including some meat (I provided chicken or mince) and whatever else. It was one of the few cooking groups that didn't have a recipe in sight and it was based upon a mini theme of 'follow your tastebuds'!

And yes the lovelies excelled yet again. And yes my camera was sitting right there. And yes, I forgot to get photos of most of the pies. These are the one's I grabbed before everything got eaten ...

We had a 'traditional' beef and gravy pie, a chicken and vegetable pie with mornay sauce, chicken and corn triangles (pictured) and an apple high pie (pictured before and after). Oh, and a great salad to go with the savories and ice cream to go with the dessert :-)

The beef and gravy pie was made using the mince with some herbs and bits and a gravy poured over. This was cooked in a baking pan using the puff pastry - including the creation of a face as a garnish - both top and bottom.

The chicken and vegetable pie was made by dicing boneless chicken thighs and adding this to boiled or steamed vegetables (we just raided the fridge for an interesting combination). My colleague made her 'secret' mornay sauce and this was mixed through. This pie was made using puff pastry top and bottom.

I minced my chicken thighs, stirred in a drained can of corn and a large handful of frozen peas. I added a touch of cayenne pepper just because I could. I used most of the mix to form triangles using filo pastry, and then the remainder into little filo pies using a muffin pan. Unlike the beef pie, i didn't precook my filling because there was only a tablespoon of mixture in each of them.

The apple high pie was made in springform pan lined with shortcrust pastry. I added two cans of pie apple in which I stirred in a little cinnamon. Top with more shortcrust pastry.

All of these were chucked in a 230 C oven (roughly) and cooked until golden.

Very, very easy and most delicious :-)