Recipe: chicken and chorizo pie

The pairing of chicken and chorizo never fails to appeal, whether combined in a paella, tossed through pasta or, like here, served in a pie. The smokiness of the chorizo, enhanced by the paprika, goes really well with tomatoes. As with pretty much every pie I’ve ever eaten, this one is great served with buttery mash and steamed greens.

Serves 6-8

• 1tbs olive oil
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 200g cooking chorizo, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped
• 2tsp smoked paprika
• 3 thyme sprigs or 2tsp dried mixed herbs
• 1 × 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 200ml chicken stock
• 1 × 320g packet ready-rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten, to glaze
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat ½ tablespoon oil in a frying pan or saucepan over medium heat. Add the chicken and cook until golden all over, about four minutes. Transfer the chicken from the pan to a plate, leaving the oil behind, and set aside.

Drizzle the remaining oil into the pan and add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook over a gentle heat for 10-12 minutes until soft but not golden. Stir in the cooking chorizo, turn up the heat a little and fry for a few minutes before adding the garlic, smoked paprika, thyme or mixed herbs and a good seasoning of salt and pepper. Fry for one minute then tip in the cooked chicken, tinned tomatoes and chicken stock. Cook for 15 minutes to thicken up the sauce a little and then remove the pan from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan. Tip the chicken and chorizo filling into an ovenproof pie dish. Unroll the puff pastry sheet and lay it over the top of the pie filling. Remove any excess pastry from around the lip of the pie dish and crimp the edge, pressing down on the rim of the dish to seal. You can decorate the pie top using any of the excess pastry scraps, if you like. Brush the pastry all over with the beaten egg, then pierce the pie top with a couple of holes to let the steam escape. Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes until the pastry is golden.

Prep ahead

This pie will keep in the fridge, covered, for a couple of days, if you want to make it ahead of time. For best results, I prefer to make and store only the pie filling and then add the pastry top to the pie and glaze it just before baking. Alternatively, make the full pie, cover it, then freeze uncooked. Cook from frozen for 45 minutes to one hour.

Taken from The Tinned Tomatoes Cookbook by Samuel Goldsmith (Murdoch Books, £18.99)