Chicken & Ham Filo Pie

I love a good pie and so does my partner. There is something really comforting about the rich creamy filling and nice crisp pastry. It can be hard to find a pie that is SmartPoint friendly, but filo pastry can be a real lifesaver in that regard.



When I decided to make this pie way back in August, I was determined to have a fully on plan weekend. A lot of the time with my maintenance I tend to just eat what I like on a Saturday and just write off my weeklies, but it hasn't been working for me lately and that weekend I decided to make sure I tracked everything for a few weekends to get myself back. So I needed a saturday night dinner that felt like enough of a treat for me and my partner but I was also able to have within my dailies and weeklies.

This worked out so well I am going to try a few variations on filling flavour, the next on the list being a chicken curry pie! I could only get full fat creme fraiche, so my version had a few more SmartPoints but I have written up the recipe using half fat to save on SmartPoints as that is what I will be using in the future.

The recipe calls for cooked roast chicken, so is a great use for leftovers after a sunday dinner, but you can easily just cook up some chicken pieces specifically for this.

Serves: 2
SmartPoints per serving: 13
SmartPoints on NoCount: 7
Ingredients:
350g cooked roast chicken (no skin, mixed meat)
100g shredded smoked ham
1 leek
2 garlic cloves
150g button mushrooms
1/2 tbsp plain flour
250ml chicken stock (using half a stock cube)
75ml half fat creme fraiche
2 sheets filo pastry
1 tbsp sunflower oil (or mix of oil & melted butter)
1/2 tbsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Thickly slice the mushrooms and sauté in a little spray oil over a high heat. Put in a bowl and set aside.

Finely chop the leek & garlic and sauté in some spray oil until soft. Add the flour & thyme and cook stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes before stirring through the stock. Simmer over a low heat until the mixture has thickened and set aside to cook slightly before adding to the mushrooms.

Chop the cooked chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the vegetable mixture with the ham, creme fraiche and parsley and mix well. Season with salt to taste and lots of black pepper.

Divide between 2 individual pie dishes (or one single one if you don't have individual sizes) and prepare your filo pastry. Brush the pastry with the oil and cut into squares. Scrunch up the squares and place on top of the filling until it is totally covered.

Cook in a preheated oven (200c) until the pastry is golden brown and crisp. Serve immediately.