Puff Pastry Chicken & Mushroom Pie

I just made this chicken & mushroon pie.  No biggie, but what I really want to share with you is the instant puff pastry.

Now if you have made puff pastry before, you should know that the classical way of making puff pastry is quite daunting, and very time consuming.  Not anymore.  Making this instant puff pastry was so easy.  No multiple rollings of the dough, no multiple chillings in the fridge, and most importantly, no half a day wasted preparing the dough !  Just pulse some flour, butter, salt and water in a food processor.  Turn out onto a well floured surface.  Some pressing here and there, a single 3-fold, a quick roll (sounds a bit like a massage), and voila, puff pastry !  All in less than 15 minutes.

Thank god for The Modern Baker by Nick Malgieri, without which I would not have learnt this technique.  Now that I've attempted this, I am almost certain that I will never use any store bought puff pastry again.  So, if you are still buying frozen puff pastry, you should really give this a try. Trust me, it's really easy, and further, you'll be assured of eating good quality butter, which is the key ingredient in puff pastry.

You will need:

For the instant puff pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
270 g cold unsalted butter
1/2 cup cold water

For the filling:
1 medium yellow onions, sliced
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 large chicken breast, cut into cubes
3 large potatoes, cut into cubes
400 g button mushrooms, sliced
2 cups heavy cream
Butter and olive oil
1 egg beaten with 1/8 tsp salt, for the egg wash
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

To prepare the puff pastry:
Combine the flour and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to mix.  Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour.  Pulse twice.  Remove cover and use a spatula to stir the flour and butter mixture up from the bottom of the bowl.  Cover and pulse twice more.

Add the water and pulse twice.  Again, remove cover and use a spatula to stir the flour and butter mixture up from the bottom of the bowl.  Cover and pulse twice more.

Turn the dough out over a floured surface and press the dough into a rough rectangle.  Flour the dough and press with a rolling pin to flatten.  Move the dough, making sure there is still flour under it to prevent it from sticking, and give the dough a 90 degree turn.  Press again.

Again making sure that the surface and the dough are adequately floured, roll the dough into a 6 x 9 inch rectangle.  From the 9 inch edge closest to you, fold the bottom third of the dough over the middle third and the top third over that.  Roll the dough into a tight package from one of the short ends and press down on it with your palms to form a rough square.

Wrap and refridgerate the dough for at least 1 1/2 hours, before using.

To make the filling:
Heat the olive oil and butter in a large pan and add the onions and garlic. Cook for a few minutes until softened. Add the chicken and cook for 5 minutes or so, and then add the mushrooms and cook until lightly coloured.  Add the cream, simmer until the sauce thickens.

To assemble the pie:
Heat the oven to 200 deg C.

Scoop the filling into a medium sized pie dish.  Roll out dough so that it is big enough to cover the pie dish.  Place the pastry over the filling, and crimp the edges of the pie with a fork.

Make a few slits on the pastry, and brush all over with the egg wash.

Bake for about 35 minutes until crispy and golden brown.