Too Young To Be Grumpy

Tonight we made another of our regulars. As part of the WeightWatchers diet we're on, we have to count points that are based on the calorific and fat content of a dish. [As an aside, they have recently changed their "Points" system for another, but we have all the books for the old system, so we're sticking to that] Weightwatchers publish some good recipe books with low fat recipes in them. We often make the open crust chicken and mushroom pie, as we did this evening. We have made a few small changes to the published recipe. Perhaps you'd like to make it?

First you have to make a pastry. It's pretty easy. You need:

• 110g plain flour
  
• pinch of salt
  
• 60g of margarine
  

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl, and rub in the margarine until the usual breadcrumbs thing happens. Add some water, stirring it in, until a dough forms that's not too sticky. Stick it in a bag, and bung it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

While that's chilling, prepare the vegetables:

• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
  
• 110g closed cup mushrooms, sliced
  
• Half a leek, sliced
  

Perfectly cut vegetables, by The Wife.

Seal the chicken along with the onions and garlic in a large frying pan (about 5 minutes). Add the mushrooms and leek along with the following:

• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes with herbs
  
• 2 tablespoons of tomato purée
  
• 1 tablespoon of rosemary
  
• Salt & pepper seasoning
  

Cover the pan, and simmer all these ingredients for 15 minutes.

Now is a good time to put the oven on to preheat to about 200 degrees centigrade.

Now, just before the filling is ready, get the pastry from the fridge and roll it out, on a floured surface, to about a 10 inch (26cm) round. This is about the width of one of our baking sheets.


Rolled pastry, with filling simmering in background.

Grease and flour a baking sheet and transfer the pastry to it. Brush some milk over the base, and sprinkle semolina over the milk. This helps to keep the base crisper when the filling is placed on top, although it doesn't always work.

Now spoon the filling into the pastry leaving a 4cm (2inch) gap around the edges which will be folded up.


Spooning the Filling onto the Pastry

Fold up the edges of the pastry around the filling, and brush the outer edges with milk to allow it to brown off. Bung it in the oven for 30-35 minutes.

When it comes out it will look like this:


The Final Pie!

Although the Weightwatchers book says this serves 6, I think it serves 4 and the points for a quarter of this pie is 6. With a 100g portion of chips (3 points) this makes a 9 point dinner. [For comparison, my wife's daily allowance of points is 20, and mine is 28].

It really is a lovely taste, with the tomatoes and rosemary setting off the chicken wonderfully. Do let me know if you make one, and how it turns out!