Chicken and Leek Pot Pie Recap

Week 7 we went after the thing most of us have always bought: puff pastry. The challenge was a chicken and leek pot pie, one-pan filling, rough puff lid from scratch, with store-bought sheets as the escape hatch. Best of all, a brand-new cook joined this week and sent their first pie in. Two cooks who found us during scrolls week came straight back for round two.

The filling carried the week

Crisp bacon, browned chicken, leeks melted into a Dijon and tarragon sauce. Four of the five cooks called the filling out as the best part. One skipped the bacon and loaded it with potato, celery and carrot instead, and still loved what the leeks brought. Another said the deglazing step was where the flavour came from. One plate went out with sauerkraut and a glass of wine on the side, which we fully endorse.

Rough puff split the room

This is where the week split. One cook made pastry for the first time and spent the whole bake convinced the dough was doomed, butter melting, dough sticking to the bench, and it still puffed into real layers. Another followed the recipe to the letter and never got a puff, and left saying the effort was not worth it, which stings. The rest landed in the middle or better: one had fun learning the folds but will buy the sheets next time, one used both pastries and called both wins, and one would have preferred a shortcrust lid.

What we would fix in the recipe

• Give rough puff a visible checkpoint, not just times. You should see streaks of butter in the dough at every stage; if it looks smooth and even, the puff is already gone.
• Own the resting time. One cook cut straight in and got soup instead of slices. Call it in minutes, not vibes.
• Mention the shortcrust option. One cook reckoned a shortcrust lid would have suited the pie, and that is a fair call the recipe should include.

The riffs worth stealing

One cook turned the pastry scraps into parmesan twists, filed under devilish midnight snack. And one plan for next time got a second vote in the comments: individual pies in ramekins, which fixes the collapsing slice and gives everyone their own lid.

What you keep

Rough puff travels: sausage rolls, galettes, tart bases, and the one rule that matters is cold, visible butter. The filling method travels further. Render, brown, deglaze, roux, simmer until it coats a spoon: that is the backbone of every creamy braise, casserole and pasta bake you will ever make. And knowing which nights are for homemade pastry and which are for the packet is a skill too.