I have adapted this over the last 40 years from a recipe that I found on the side of an Echo Margarine Packet in the early 1980s. It is great hot or cold.

Pastry

175g Cooking Margarine (Hard not soft)

350g Plain Flour

45 – 55 ml of cold water

Filling

550g chicken thighs

275 ml chicken stock

1 teaspoon rosemary

450g Leeks

225g Pate (not too cold or it will be difficult to spread)

25g margarine

25g plain flour

Salt and pepper

Pastry

1. Cut the margarine into small pieces and rub into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs.
2. Add the water little by little to form a firm dough.
3. Divide into two pieces one piece two thirds size, one piece one third size.
4. Roll out the larger piece and line a 20cm round deep flan or tart tin.
5. Leave the smaller piece in a ball.
6. Put both the lined tart tin and the smaller ball of pastry in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

Filling

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC
2. Put the Chicken Thighs, Rosemary and Chicken stock into a pan and bring to the boil.
3. Cook on a medium heat for about 20 minutes.
4. Take the Thighs out of the stock and put on one side to cool.
5. Clean the leeks in cold water, taking care to get rid of any fine sand or dirt in the outer leaves.
6. Trim the leeks and slice into 1 cm rounds.
7. Bring the chicken stock to the boil again, add the leeks and cook over a medium heat for about 5 minutes until just tender.
8. Using a slotted spoon put them into a sieve and leave to drain over the stock in the pan.
9. Take the chicken meat off the thigh bones and cut into bite size pieces.
10. Remove the sieve with the leeks in from above the pan.
11. Add into the stock the margarine and plain flour and bring to the boil whisking all the time to avoid lumps. Cook over a low heat for 2 – 3 minutes. Turn off and leave to cool a little.
12. Take the pastry out of the fridge. Cut the pate into thin slices or little bits and try to gently spread over the base of the pie. Without going through the pastry (it is a little tricky).
13. Put the cooked leeks over the pate.
14. Mix the cooked chicken into the sauce.
15. Roll out the pastry ball to make a lid to cover the pie.
16. Put the chicken and sauce over the leeks and cover the pie with pastry.
17. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 180ºC for 60 minutes or until golden brown.
18. Leave to cool for 15 minutes then carefully remove from the tin and serve.