Medieval Chicken Pie

This is a kind of meat pie that would have been eaten during the Middle Ages in Europe. A whole wheat crust would be very authentic, but using plain flour short crust pastry works perfectly well. The fruit and warm spices in this pie give it a really wintery festive flavour.

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon, organic
4 Whole Cloves, organic
½ tsp Ground Ginger, organic
1 blade Mace, organic
2 readymade shortcrust pastry rounds
600-800g of skinless/boneless chicken breast or thighs
1 egg
3 tablespoons white wine
40g dates, pitted and chopped
60g ground almonds
60g gruyere cheese
Salt – to taste
½ tsp ground black pepper
240ml chicken stock

Preheat oven 180C

Line a pie dish with one shortcrust pastry disc.
Cut chicken into bite-sized pieces. In a saucepan, poach chicken with chicken broth, add the mace blade and cloves over low heat, for about 20mins or until done. Cover chicken while cooking. Drain and reserve the stock, remove the mace blade and cloves and discard and place cooked chicken in a large bowl.
Add the beaten egg, white wine and about 200ml of the chicken stock to the cooked chicken. Add the dates, ground almonds and cheese, then toss to mix. Add salt, black pepper, ginger, and cinnamon. Mix the spices thoroughly. Don't worry if the filling seems wet, it will thicken as it cooks. Pour in filling into pie shell. Cover with top shell and crimp to seal edges. Make a small cross in the top of the pastry to allow the steam to escape. Brush the with a little milk and melted butter.

Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. If the crust looks as though it is browning too rapidly, cover with foil.