Chicken and Mushroom Pie

My wife makes excellent pastry - light, firm and tasty, but for many people the thought of making pastry for any pie dish is off-putting. So here is a suggestion that works equally as well - use a bread mix. This is an easy way to produce a delicious crust without making pastry and enhances any pie, such as this wholesome and hearty dish, which is also a great way to use up left-over chicken (or turkey). Here goes:-

Ingredients: (serves 8-12)
250g mushrooms
1 bunch of spring onions
knob of butter
1 chicken stock cube
500g mascarpone cheese
15g plain flour
50g Parmesan cheese - grated
500g naan bread mix
290g water
300g cooked chicken - chopped
salt and pepper to taste
knob of melted butter

Method:

• Slice 50g of the mushrooms and chop the rest. Clean and chop the spring onions, and fry both lightly in the knob of butter, taking care not to brown.

• Stir in the crumbled chicken stock cube and leave to cool slightly.
• Spoon the mascarpone cheese into bowl, add the plain flour and most of the grated Parmesan cheese (saving a small amount to sprinkle over the pie later). Blend all together until smooth and add seasoning to taste.
• Prepare the bread mix following the instructions on the packet, then roll out a little more than half the dough to line the base and sides of a greased 30 cm flan tin.

• Fill the pastry base with the chopped and cooked chicken, mushrooms and spring onions, then loosely dot over with the mascarpone mixture.
• Roll out the remaining dough and use this to top the pie, ensuring the edges are well sealed.
• Brush the top with the melted butter and sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan cheese.
• Pierce the top of the pie with a fork in a few places to make some steam holes.
• Bake in the lower half of a pre-heated oven at 220'C or Gas Mark 7 for 25-30 minutes the pie i golden brown on top.      

Delicious and so tasty!