One of the favorite bachelor dishes is chicken puff pastry dough pie , which is sold ready-made in every supermarket. To make a simple filling of chicken fillet, grind it in a blender and lightly fry it with spices is as simple as it gets: a hearty dinner (or even a future dinner, if you have one) is provided, the taste is excellent, so this dish is quite popular.
About Chicken Pies
A lot of delicious pastries with a wide variety of fillings are prepared from puff pastry. Even from simple chicken meat, you can cook at least ten different types of this cake, using only two additional ingredients that will dramatically change the taste of the product. For instance:
- Minced chicken stuffing, with mushrooms and onions. We can say that this option is the centuries-old tradition of our ancestors.
- From chicken slices, with cheese. If you add potatoes to the filling, you get a very satisfying option.
- A more interesting option: chicken with cabbage and onions for those who prefer a combination of vegetables and meat.
- For the most fastidious, you can cook in the oven chicken puff pastry pie in the form of wicker, roll, or lay out pieces of dough with filling - a whole work of art in the form of a flower. Such a pie is not a shame to put on the festive table.
The principle of preparation is basically similar, but the products can be molded in different ways, which will be described below.
A simple recipe for puff pastry yeast
For those who want to get the maximum benefit with the least effort, it is recommended to prepare this version of the cake from puff pastry:
- Minced chicken - 150 grams.
- Yeast puff pastry - 400 grams.
- Hard cheese - 100 grams.
- A small onion.
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper mixed with ground coriander.
- Champignons -150 grams.
- 2-3 tbsp. l sour cream.
- 3-4 tbsp. l vegetable oil.
- One egg to grease the top of the pie.
Cooking toppings
Carefully remove the dough from the packaging and place it on the table for defrosting, and in the meantime, you can prepare the filling. To do this, cut the mushrooms into small pieces and fry in oil in a wide pan until a slight blush. Cut the chicken into small cubes with onions and add to the mushrooms, continue the heat treatment for another ten minutes, periodically stirring the contents of the pan. Then add spices, sour cream and salt to taste, mix well. Add grated cheese and turn off the stove.
Shaping and baking
The easiest and most convenient option for forming chicken puff pastry pie is using a split mold. Divide the dough into two parts: one, a little larger, rolled to the size of the mold + grab on the sides, and the second just rolled out into a cake. Both pieces should be no more than 3-4 mm thick.
Sprinkle the bottom of the mold with flour, place a larger layer there, carefully spreading the sides, lay on it a still warm filling, leveling the surface, cover the top with a second piece and carefully pinch the edges, if necessary using a beaten egg for gluing. Next, in the center of the molded pie with a knife, make incisions crosswise: two or four, of your choice. Lubricate the top of the pie with the egg and send it to the oven, preheated to 220 degrees. Bake the pie for the first ten minutes at this temperature, and then lower it to 200 and continue baking for about 20 minutes.
Cooking time depends on the power of the oven, therefore it is recommended to be guided by the color of the crust: chicken puff pastry cake will have a delicious golden color. Serve it should be warm, slightly cooling directly in the form.
Tips from professionals
Culinary specialists with many years of experience have in their arsenal many interesting details, thanks to which cooked food from a simple one turns into the ultimate dream of a gourmet. Puff pastry with chicken is no exception.
For instance:
- If you want a more crumbly version, then you should take fresh (yeast-free) dough. For those who prefer the cake to be soft, yeast is better.
- Chicken meat can be combined with turkey, duck, goose - the taste will not suffer, and the essence of the filling from the bird will be preserved. This is true for those who do not eat other types of meat.
- If the cake is cooked closed - it must be cut along the top, otherwise the hot air that will be formed during baking will deform the top layer of the cake. If there is no desire to cut the layer, then you should prick it with a fork (or a toothpick) in several places in order to open the way for hot steam.
Closed unleavened pie
It is believed that this recipe belongs to the cuisine of the Crimean Tatars, where this cake is called cebet. The Greeks also have a similar option - their quartet with potatoes is very similar to the southern fellow. The only difference is in the form of meat: among the Tatars it is usually lamb, and among the Greeks it is a more refined chicken.
To prepare this chicken pie from puff pastry, the following proportions are required:
- for five hundred grams of dough, the same amount of minced chicken is taken;
- 3-5 potatoes (depending on size);
- two onions;
- 120 ml of broth;
- black pepper and salt according to taste preferences;
- one egg for lubrication, if necessary, can be replaced with a spoon of sour cream.
The process of cooking quartet
The main feature of this cooking option is that the ingredients are put into the pie without preliminary heat treatment, so the baking will be longer in time. The preparation of chicken pie from puff pastry according to the recipe begins with the preparation of meat: it should be cut into pieces as small as possible, but do not use a blender or meat grinder for chopping. Then sprinkle them with a mixture of salt and pepper and leave in a cool place for a couple of hours. Chop the onions with the thinnest half rings, and peeled potatoes with straws or thin slices. Roll out the previously thawed layer of fresh puff pastry and divide into two unequal parts, put the majority in a square baking dish, forming sides.
Place marinated meat on it, onion with a thin layer on top, and potatoes on it. Cover with a second layer, tightly pinching the edges with a raw egg, lubricating the seam with it. In the middle, make a hole in the dough the size of a five-copeck coin, which should be covered with a peeled small onion. Place the pie in the oven, heated to 210 degrees, and bake for twenty minutes. Then remove the onion, carefully pour the broth into the pie (1/2 of the norm), cover the hole again and return the pie to the oven. Thanks to this, the filling inside the pie will be very juicy: the meat and potatoes will be stewed in their own juice. After half an hour, repeat this again and continue baking for another twenty minutes. Then turn off the oven, but leave the cake in it for another 10-15 minutes. It will come and become softer, despite the crispy upper crust.
How to make an open cake juicy?
Sometimes the filling in the bakery turns a bit dry. Considering that the unleavened dough is the same, there is a desire that the puff pastry pie with chicken should have a more juicy filling. Just pouring the broth on is not an option, it will be absorbed in the dough and instead of a pie you will get something resembling a collapsed galosh. But experienced cooks always have an “ace up their sleeve”: add some vegetables and thick sauce to the meat. Those who wish to prepare a low-calorie recipe should prepare the following ingredients:
- three hundred grams of finished dough;
- three hundred grams of frozen broccoli and chicken;
- 260 grams of hard cheese;
- 150 grams of yogurt without additives;
- 1/3 tsp salts;
- a large pinch of ground coriander and pepper;
- 1-2 tbsp. l odorless vegetable oil.
Chefs assure that for filling into the pie you can use not only fresh meat, but also previously boiled pieces of chicken without bones, smoked breasts or pickled earlier for other dishes. The taste will be a little different each time, so the pie does not bother at all.
Step cooking
While the dough is unfreezing on the table, the chicken breast filling is prepared for the puff pastry pie:
- Cut the meat into small pieces and fry in butter until the color changes.
- Add broccoli to it and continue to fry for another ten minutes, sprinkled with spices.
- Grind the cheese and mix with yogurt, add salt there.
Unfold the dough, rolled up to 3-4 mm, in the form, forming sides at least five centimeters high. Place chicken and cabbage on it, and cheese mass on top, smoothing it on the surface of the filling. Place the pie in the oven and bake until cooked. On average, the cooking process lasts no more than half an hour at a temperature of 200 degrees. Appetizing cheese crust on top of the cake will acquire a rich golden hue - this will be a signal to complete the baking process. This cake is very tasty even the next day, especially if it is heated in the microwave.