Chicken and Spinach Pie

This is a simple pie to make that makes use of the bold flavours.

Ingredients:

• 600g chicken breast, cut into 1-2 cm chunks
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 celery sticks (or ideally spinach stems), finely sliced
• 150g of fresh spinach
• 1 chicken stock cube
• 250g of shortcrust pastry
• 2 eggs, beaten together

Method:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
2. Fry the chicken breast pieces in 1 tbsp of olive oil over a medium heat, stirring every minute or so, until cooked all the way through, probably 5 to 7 minutes.
3. Put the chicken breast in a large mixing bowl and then fry the onion and celery/spinach stems in the remaining olive oil until soft, probably about 5 minutes.
4. Add the fresh spinach to the pan along with the stock cube and then place a lid over the pan to help steam the spinach. If it gets too dry so that it starts to burn then add a tbsp or two of cold water.
5. Once the spinach has reduced down and isn't giving off much more liquid, put it in the mixing bowl to cool for a few minutes.
6. Rub a pie dish with a little bit of butter and then roll out about two thirds of the pastry to line the pie dish.
7. Add almost all the egg mixture to the large mixing bowl and stir until the chicken, egg and spinach are well mixed.
8. Pour the filling into the pie dish.
9. Roll out the remaining pastry and use as a lid for the pie.
10. Put a couple of holes in the pie lid with the tip of a knife and brush on the remaining beaten egg.
11. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Makes a pie suitable for serving 4.