Sunday lunch – Hairy Bikers Style

If you live in the UK or watch the BBC regularly, you are probably familiar with the cooking show ‘Hairy Bikers – Best of British’. When I discovered this show a few weeks ago, I almost immediately zapped to another channel, sighing “Yet another cooking program …” You know, I love to cook, but lately the offer of cooking shows is definitely exceeding my personal demand and interest. What I find most annoying is the fact that many of the so-called chefs don’t have a clue of what they are doing. The worst are these skinny celebs who are preparing their ‘amazing’ recipes that are ‘oh so nourishing’ and yet ‘so slimming’.

You can hardly call the ‘Hairy Bikers’ – Simon King and Dave Meyers – skinny; on the contrary. And they don’t really look like weathered chefs either. But after zapping away two or three times, I got intrigued by their way of cooking and the traditional British dishes they were preparing. And although they are constantly joking and fooling around, they work as a perfect team, in a professional yet congenial way. And the results always look very appetizing.The other day I watched them preparing a traditional chicken, ham and leek pie. It looked easy to make and I decided to give it a try, especially as the ingredients – leeks – are in season. As I’m not very good at making pastry, I bought it ready-made at our supermarket.

Poached chicken breast, diced ham and braised leek & garlic.

 The other ingredients are (serves two):
- a bone- and skinless chicken breast
- a 1 cm thick slice of boiled or braised ham (approx. 250 gr)
- 2 sturdy leeks
- a clove of garlic
- a big handful of chopped chives (my personal touch)
- flour
- a generous splash of dry white wine
- chicken stock (home made or you can use a stock cube)
- 1 egg
- liquid double cream
- butter
- pepper, salt, nutmeg
- lemon juice (the Bikers didn’t use lemon, but this is my personal touch. It gives your dish a nice tang).


I did follow their recipe, but couldn’t help adding some personal touches …


The method:

Bring the chicken stock to the boil and put in the chicken breast. Let it simmer for 15 minutes. In the meantime, cut the ham in 1x1x1 cm pieces. Clean the leeks, cut them in half length-wise and next across in 0.5 centimetre pieces. Melt some butter in a frying pan and gently braise the leeks, adding the chopped garlic, salt and pepper. Don’t let the leeks turn brown. Remove from them from the pan as soon as they are translucent. Drain in a colander.

After 15 minutes, remove the chicken from the stock using a slotted spoon. Put the meat aside while you’re making the sauce.

Melt some butter in a pot, stir in 1.5 tablespoon of flour and make a béchamel sauce by adding the chicken stock one ladle at the time. Keep stirring until you obtain a tick and glossy sauce. Add a generous splash of white wine, (the juice of half a lemon – optional), pepper, salt and freshly grated nutmeg. Remove the pot from the stove and add a nice blob of cream. Keep stirring until all the ingredients have blended together. When the sauce is ready, pour it in a recipient and cover it with a sheet of plastic foil. Put the foil directly on top of the liquid. It’ll stop it from forming an unattractive ‘crust’.

Cut the chicken in bite-size chunks and put them in a shallow oven dish. Next, stir in the pieces of ham, the leeks and the chopped chives. Pour the cold sauce over the dish. Cut the pastry to fit the shape and size (slightly larger) of the dish and drape it over the filling. To seal the edges, lightly wet the rim of the dish using a piece of paper kitchen towel soaked in water. Press the pastry firmly on the rim, pierce three holes in the middle of the pastry and gently brush the top of the pie with some egg wash.

The pie, straight from the oven: crispy crust over a delicious filling. Yum!

Bake the pie in a 180°C oven for about 30 to 40 minutes. When the crust is golden brown and crispy, remove from the oven and serves immediately. Bon appetite!