Nadiya’s Chicken Brie Pithivier

I was thinking about French words that I enjoy a few weeks ago and pithivier was on the list. A pithivier is a pie. Two circles of puff pastry stuffed with some filling. I’ve had a couple of pithivier recipes saved for awhile but had never gotten around to making them until recently. Thank goodness I jumped in with Nadiya’s recipe for what she calls chicken, brie, cranberry and pink pepper pithivier in her book Nadiya Bakes because she made it much easier than I thought it would be. The only reason I’m not calling it that is because I used all of her techniques and mostly followed the recipe but I didn’t have any pink pepper and it was still great.

One of my goals in writing down recipes as they happen in an actual family kitchen is that I want people to MAKE things. Not just look at a recipe or a picture and think about making something. I’m constantly substituting based on what I have and what needs to be used up. Just because you don’t have every single thing listed in the ingredients section doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a shot. Chances are you’re still going to end up with a great dinner. Especially when you’re taking your marching orders from Nadiya Hussain. The woman is a delight and font of knowledge.

Even Nadiya changes the recipe. As it’s written in the book you blitz the onion and garlic together into a paste which you see often in Indian recipes but when she made it on camera for the BBC she chops them both and puts them right in the pan. This isn’t to call anyone out on inconsistency, it’s to show that what happens in your kitchen stays in your kitchen (unless the BBC is there).

As I said above, I didn’t have pink peppercorns but I happened to have green peppercorns so I substituted those and we have someone at the table who doesn’t love cooked fruit with meat so I halved the amount of dried cranberries. Also, if you use two packages of puff pastry there is a lot of wasted pastry so I used one block and re-rolled the leftovers. Here are some ideas for what to do with any leftover pastry.

I will tell you this. The way the brie essentially became a sauce inside the pie was a revelation. I know we’ve all been to a dinner party where the host was serving baked brie with walnuts and honey. Imagine that but as a pie. It does not disappoint. Bon appetit!

Celebrating Making

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1 hour or 90 minutes if you chill the pie before baking

Ingredients

1 500g block of puff pastry (or you can use two if you don’t want to re-roll)

3 Tbsp olive oil

6 cloves garlic, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 tsp salt

1 Tbsp peppercorns of your choosing (although I very much believe Nadiya when she says pink peppercorns are like little jewels)

300g chicken thighs, cut into cubes

50g dried cranberries (this is my reduced amount)

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten

200g brie cheese

Instructions

Take your block of PUFF PASTRY and roll it out on a floured surface to about half a cm thick. I used the removable bottom of a 25 cm tart tin as the template for the first circle. Then I stacked the leftover pastry, re-rolled it and pressed the top edge of the tart case into it for the second circle. I don’t know anyone who has room in their fridge to keep two separate baking trays to keep the pastry cool so put the smaller circle on the lined baking tray, put the removable bottom of the tart tin over it and put the larger circle over that. Now you only have one tray to find room for.

I liked the consistency of the blitzed GARLIC and ONION so I recommend you do that, if you have blending capabilities. If you don’t just chopping them is fine. Put what you end up with in a pan on medium heat with the oil.

While the onion/garlic mix is browning, cut up your CHICKEN THIGHS into cubes about an inch big. When the mix in the pan is ready, put in the chicken to seal and cook through. Add the SALT and PEPPERCORNS of your choosing. Stir that all around. Scatter the CRANBERRIES over the top and let cook for about 7 minutes.

When the chicken is cooked through, take it off the heat and let the whole thing cool.

While the chicken is cooling, take the pastry out of the fridge. Set the larger circle off to the side. Brush the edge of the smaller circle with EGG YOLK.

You’re going to slice the top and the bottom off the BRIE CHEESE so your pastry can fit over the top. It also lets the cheese become the sauce which is amazing. If you don’t want to waste the top and bottom of a perfectly good cheese, I would still suggest taking off the top. Whichever you decide, put the cheese in the middle of the smaller circle.

Now make a small mountain of the chicken mix over the cheese, out to the edge of the egg wash.

Place the larger circle of pastry over the top and press down over the filling. Nadiya does a lovely scallop thing to the edge that you can find on the internet, I just did a regular kind of rolled pie edge. Take the rest of your egg yolk and brush it all over the top. Lightly score the top. Put the pie in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes.

You’re going to need a tray that you can put in the oven as it preheats. If you only have the one tray, slide the pie onto a plate using the silicone baking mat or parchment paper you used to line the tray. If you have two trays, put one in the oven as you preheat it to 200C/fan180C.

Transfer your chilled pie to the hot tray from the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes. As Nadiya says, if the pastry looks very dark after 20 minutes, cover loosely with foil and turn the heat down to 180C/fan 160C.

Serve hot from the oven with a nice green salad or some buttered green beans.

Here are some ways to use up the leftover egg whites

Keep the top and bottom of the brie and put it out with some crackers for anyone coming in to see if dinner is ready yet.

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