Some things should be noted. I'm not a major fan of Rachel Allen. She always seemed such a poor man's version of Nigella. Some trophy wife of a producer somewhere making a lady of leisure's living of cookery shows playing up the Irish accent in a cavernous show kitchen. Perhaps it was because all her helpful "tricks" had already been touted by others a long time ago - like getting the garlic smell out of your hands... But over the years she's kind of grown on me. The format is a little twee, the pink accessories want to make me barf, but she isn't the spawn of all things faux goddess anymore. (FYI I have no idea with regards to her personal life etc, but like my distaste for Ashley Judd, one wonders how she gets good films with little acting skill.)
So here I was, tapping away on the internet last week whilst she was on tv, and there it was. A beast of a pie. It was so beautiful. Her job was done. Out I trotted to buy a huge pie dish (we don't own ceramic anything.) Bought a lovely Waitrose chicken. Then disregarded most of her recipe to make a pie. Her recipe is here but mine uses, no herbs (too pricy and too wasted) , some chicken powder, no celery because I hate it, no ham because we didn't have it, and no cream because I forgot to add it. Oh and because I couldn't find a surface clear enough to roll the pastry, it doesn't quite cover the meat. This sounds a lot like most of my recipes no?
As it was, it was good. Not great. Well seasoned for me - for once there was no "add some more salt next time" but it wasn't filling. Better luck next time.
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