One-Pot Simple Chicken & Leek Pie

Claire Wright

Featuring:

Leeks

Peas

Effort:

Complexity:

Cost:

Serves: 4-6

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 50 mins

Ingredients:

2 leeks, washed well and sliced

2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp oil

Salt & pepper, to taste

Cooked chicken (leftovers from a roast are perfect here, ideally a large handful per serve)

150ml chicken stock or water

1 tsp mixed dried herbs

250g creme fraiche (you can use cream cheese if you prefer)

1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard

Frozen peas (a large handful per serve)

1 sheet puff pastry (300g, rolled)

Chicken leek pie

Who doesn’t love a one-pot meal, especially one that involves sweet creamy chicken & leek pie filling and flaky pastry? Win the kids over to a veg-packed one-pot dinner with this chicken & leek pie that is sure to be a hit with the whole family!

More of a visual learner – watch the video here.

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C/gas 6. Toss the sliced leeks and garlic in the oil, season with a little salt & pepper if you like, then roast in an oven proof pie dish for 15 mins, or until starting to go golden and softened. Stir in the other ingredients, except for the pastry.

Check the filling is coming to almost the top of the pie dish (you may need a smaller one otherwise) and cut the pastry until it is just slightly bigger than the pie dish, covering the filling and pressing gently around the edges.

Make a hole in the centre of the pie to allow the steam room to escape, then brush the pastry with milk or cream and bake for 30-35 mins until puffed and golden and the filling is bubbling.

Engaging Kids

Kids who engage regularly with veg through veg-themed activities, such as arts and crafts, sensory experiences, growing and cooking are shown to be more likely to eat the veg they engage with. Encouraging kids to engage and play with veg is the handy first step to them developing a good relationship with veg and life-long healthy eating.

Kids in the kitchen

The eventual aim, if possible, is to get kids in the kitchen. Don’t worry, this doesn’t have to mean they are with you from start-to-end creating mess and rising stress levels! It can be as simple as giving them one small job (stirring, measuring, pouring, grating, chopping…) ideally involving veg. They can come in to do their little bit, and have fun with you for a few minutes. Getting them involved, making it playful and praising them plenty for their involvement, perhaps even serving it as dinner they “made”, makes it much more likely they will eat the food offered, not to mention teaching them important life skills. Find ideas, safety tips, videos and even a free chart in our Kids in the Kitchen section here.

Activities

While getting kids to interact with veggies for real and using their senses to explore them is best, encouraging hands off activities like arts & crafts, puzzles & games or at-home science experiments can be a great start, particularly for those who are fussier eaters or struggle with anything too sensory. Use these veg-themed activities as a stepping stone to interacting with the veg themselves. We have loads of crafty downloads here, puzzles here, and quirky science with veg here.

Sensory

Once you feel your child is ready to engage a little more, you can show them how to explore the veg you have on hand with their senses, coming up with playful silly descriptions of how a veg smells, feels, looks, sounds and perhaps even tastes. Find ideas, videos and some simple sensory education session ideas to get you started here.

Serving

The moments before food is offered can be a perfect opportunity for engagement that can help make it more likely a child will eat it! Giving children a sense of ownership in the meal can make a big difference to their feelings going into it and the pride they take in it. You know your child best, but if you aren’t sure where to start, we have some fun and simple ideas for easy roles you can give them in the serving process over here.

Claire Wright

Editor: After leaving Exeter University with a degree in English Literature, Claire worked in various fields ranging from youth work and charities to publishing, before starting up a food-focused website when her first child was born. After being asked to project manage the publication of Veg Power's Crowdfunder book, Claire came on board as a fully-fledged team member in 2018 to take on the role of Communications Manager, then Editor, looking after Veg Power's website, content, recipes and social media platforms.

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