Last one 'til 2012!

Thank you to all of our faithful blog followers for sharing another fantastic year with us. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas and see you in 2012!

Bill Granger's Chicken and Mushroom Pie

Thought I'd share this recipe as it's been the flavour of the month – literally – in our household. I had a friend send it to me after she made it for us. It's from a Bill Granger cookbook. It's a bit fancy with porcini mushrooms but I left those out and it was still outstanding! Best thing is you can freeze it easily and bring it out again and again, night after night. I'm not sick of it yet…

Serves 4

10g dried porcini mushrooms

500g skinless chicken breast fillets

60g plain flour

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

25g butter

1 small onion, finely diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

150g mushrooms, sliced

80ml white wine (or water)

125ml cream

1 tablespoon chopped sage

300g ready-made puff pastry (I used shortcrust)

2 egg yolks, lightly beaten, to glaze

Soak the dried porcini in 250ml just-boiled water for 30 minutes. Cut the chicken into 2-3cm dice. Combine the flour, cayenne, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the chicken and toss to coat, shaking off any excess. Heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over high heat. Add the chicken and stir-fry until lightly browned and sealed (not cooked through). Remove and set aside.

Add the onion, garlic and fresh mushrooms to the pan and cook over a medium heat for 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are coloured. Add the wine and let bubble for 1 minute. Chop the porcini and add with their soakage liquid and the cream. Simmer gently for a further 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook for another minute. Remove from heat and let cool. Stir in the sage.

Roll the pastry in a lightly floured surface until 4mm thick. Cut out 4 rounds large enough to line 4 pie tins, 9.5cm in diameter, and 4 smaller rounds for the pie lids. Line the tins with the larger pastry tops on the pies and press the edges together to seal, then crimp with a fork. Make a slit in the top of each pie using a sharp knife.

Pies can be made and refrigerated or frozen in advance to this stage. If cooking now, brush with egg yolk and bake in a preheated oven at 180c for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.

To cook after freezing, allow the pies to thaw in the fridge for several hours or overnight then brush with egg yolk and bake as above.

Serve with green salad.

Dunlin Home

Well if you're looking for gift ideas this Christmas, and hoping to find something with classic, understated and original style for your loved ones (or me... he he!), check out new Australian homewares store, Dunlin Home. It's a collection of elegant pieces inspired by the olden days in the country, when milk jugs were actually used to serve milk, and fruit from the orchard was collected in a pretty woven basket. Check them out!