Four puff pastry parcels make up Delia Smith’s chicken and mushroom pie, each folded like an envelope round chicken thighs, crisp bacon and chestnut mushrooms in a soft, savoury sauce. She calls them Chicken Feuilletés, and they bake until puffed and deeply browned in 20 to 25 minutes.
Her main cookbooks have no recipe by that exact name, so this page follows the nearest real one, from the autumn chapter of The Delia Collection: Chicken (2003). Her own website has the same Chicken Feuilletés on a page of its own.
She describes them as homely comfort food that turns elegant enough for a supper party once it’s served in single portions. Bought puff pastry makes the whole thing far simpler, she adds.
Thighs rather than breasts go into the filling, browned in the fat the bacon leaves behind. The sauce is thickened first, and only then do the mushrooms join it for half an hour of gentle simmering.
Delia Smith’s Chicken Feuilletés (Chicken and Mushroom Pies)
Course: DinnerCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Medium4
servings30
minutes1
hour20
minutes700
kcalChicken, bacon and mushrooms in a parsley sauce with crème fraîche, wrapped in puff pastry envelopes and topped with pastry leaves.
Ingredients
- For the filling:
450g (1lb) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
25g (1oz) butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
6 rashers dry-cure streaky bacon, rind removed, cut into 5mm (¼in) strips
25g (1oz) flour
275ml (10fl oz) chicken stock
50g (2oz) chestnut mushrooms, finely sliced
55ml (2fl oz) crème fraîche or double cream
1½ tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
salt and freshly milled black pepper
- For the pastry:
250g (9oz) block of puff pastry, chilled or frozen and defrosted
2 large egg yolks, beaten
Directions
- Chicken: Trim the chicken into even pieces, roughly 1cm (½in) cubes.
- Onion: Melt the butter in a medium, deep-sided frying pan and fry the onion over a medium heat for about 4 minutes, until pale gold. Lift it out onto a plate with a draining spoon.
- Bacon: Turn the heat up to high and fry the bacon strips for about 4 minutes, tossing them now and then, until really crisp. Add them to the onion on the plate.
- Brown: Fry the chicken in the bacon fat in three batches, giving each batch 3 to 4 minutes, until lightly browned on all sides. Return the onion, bacon and all the chicken to the pan.
- Sauce: Keep the heat at medium and stir in the flour to soak up the juices. Add the stock a little at a time, stirring as you go, and as it comes to a simmer it will thicken into a creamy sauce.
- Simmer: Add the mushrooms, season well and simmer, uncovered, on the lowest possible heat for 30 minutes, stirring now and then. Stir in the crème fraîche or cream and the parsley, check the seasoning, then leave it to cool completely and chill it.
- Pastry: When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan), gas mark 6. Let the pastry come to room temperature, about 10 minutes, then roll it out to a 40cm (16in) square and cut four 18cm (7in) squares, keeping the trimmings.
- Fold: Spoon the cold filling into the centre of each square and brush the edges with egg yolk. Bring the opposite corners up to meet in the middle like an envelope, pinch the seams firmly so they don’t burst, and make a small hole in the top for the steam.
- Bake: Re-roll the trimmings thinly, cut out leaf shapes and mark veins on them with the back of a knife, then arrange them on the parcels. Set them on a greased baking sheet, brush thickly with egg yolk and bake on a high shelf for 20 to 25 minutes, until rich golden brown.
Notes
- The book suggests a tape measure for the pastry, and it's worth it, since equal squares give four parcels that bake in the same time.
- Thighs stay juicier than breast through the long simmer, in my experience, so I wouldn't swap them.
FAQs
Can I make one big pie instead of parcels?
You can, though that change is mine. Her Chicken and Leek Pot Pie in the same book shows the way, with a strip of pastry pressed round a dampened rim, a puff pastry lid sealed on top and leaves cut from the trimmings.
She even says she quite likes that pie with mushrooms in place of half the leeks. It bakes at the same 200°C for 20 minutes in a small dish for 2.
How far ahead can I make them?
Well ahead. The filling has to be completely cold before it meets the pastry, so it’s made and chilled in advance, and the parcels themselves can be assembled and kept in the fridge until baking.
I’d fill them on the morning of a dinner and give them their egg yolk glaze just before they go in, which is my own timing.
Can I use leftover cooked chicken?
Yes, as a shortcut of mine. Skip browning the chicken, make the sauce with the onion and bacon, then stir the cooked chicken in with the mushrooms for the 30-minute simmer.
For Christmas leftovers, her website has a turkey version of these feuilletés, and her turkey flan with leeks and cheese is another way to use them.
What other chicken pies does she have?
Two to look out for. The Complete Cookery Course has a Cold Chicken Pie for 8, made with shortcrust, chicken breasts, pork sausagemeat, mace and herbs, which she calls a centrepiece for a picnic or any lunch outdoors.
The Delia Collection: Chicken also has Chicken and Herb Picnic Pies, 6 small ones baked in a muffin tin, for food on the move.
What should I serve with them?
Something light. She says all they need is a lightly cooked green vegetable or a salad, and with all that pastry and sauce I’d agree.
