Chicken, mushroom and spinach pie

I’ve really needed comfort food the last couple of days. See, I have been having a bout of horrid insomnia. I hate it. It’s something that happens to me every month or so. I am trying to address it, but the problem (I think) is that I have too much going on, and my head is constantly buzzing! So, after a non-existent night’s sleep, what I crave is quality comfort food.

This chicken pie hit the spot. Seriously! I have been cooking like a maniac today and yesterday. Which might seem odd if I’m exhausted but it’s like therapy to me. Strange, I know. At least it’s a form of productivity! And tea is cooked…

Serves: 4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes
Total time: 45 minutes

Ingredients: 
Ready roll puff pastry (375g – you probably won’t use it all)
2 chicken breasts, free-range if possible, cut into small chunks
200g mushrooms, sliced thickly
2 large handfuls of spinach

For the microwave sauce: 
1 litre of whole milk
50g plain flour
50g butter
1 teaspoon of English mustard
Salt and pepper

Instructions: 

1. Preheat oven to 180C. 
2. Put the milk, flour and butter in a microwave safe jug or bowl. Set to 7 minutes on High. Whisk every minute. Keep stopping and whisking until it thickens – it normally does this at 5 minutes (ish). Then cook for a further minute (ish) to cook out the flour. Add the salt and pepper and a little mustard. 
3. Fry off chicken breast in a little oil for about 10 minutes. Add sliced mushrooms near the end, once the chicken is sealed and almost cooked through. Don’t worry about cooking the chicken through completely now, as it goes in the oven. 
4. Add the spinach to the chicken and mushroom mixture, once it’s off the heat. Tip in the white sauce and mix well. Let the spinach wilt in the hot sauce (if you made the sauce in advance and now it’s cold, put the heat on underneath the pan and warm it up once more).
5. Tip the lot into a medium pie dish and top with puff pastry lid. Trim the edges with a shaper knife to get rid of the excess pastry. 
6. Beat an egg. Using a fork, dip it in the egg and go round the edges of the pan with it, pressing the pastry down around the edges, also making two or three snips in the middle to let air escape.    
7. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with mash and broccoli.