Chicken Pastel

I always thought that I have a Chicken Pastel recipe in my blog.  I was about to cook my lunch today when I discovered I do not!  It just goes to show I have  not cooked this particular dish in over a year whereas before, the least was once a month.  Hmmmm ... I wonder, why?  Mom used to like creamy and cheesy food.  It is not on the top of my list.  So maybe that is the reason why I have not eaten Pastel in a while.

But today I wanted to make Chicken Pastel with Pastry Crust.



Chicken Pastel

1 K. Chicken, cut into pieces
salt and pepper
1/2 C. butter or margarine
1 can vienna sausage, cut each sausage into 3
3 pcs. Purefoods chorizo bilbao, sliced
1 small can button mushrooms
potatoes, cubed
carrots, cubed
1 Knorr Chicken cube
1/2 C. water
1 tall can evaporated milk
green and red pepper, cut into squares
frozen green peas
1/2 bar quickmelt cheese, grated

Rub chicken with salt and pepper and let stand for 15 minutes. Melt butter in cooking pan, brown the chicken, add chorizo, followed by the potatoes, carrots, mushrooms and vienna sausage.  Then add the chicken cube, water and milk.  Stir so the milk will not curdle.  When it begins to boil, lower heat and cover for 20 minutes.

Remove the cover, add the peppers and peas.  Continue cooking for 5 minutes more.  Sprinkle grated cheese on top and turn off heat.

You can serve the pastel at this point



or you can transfer into a baking dish and top with the pastry crust.

Pastry Crust

1 1/4 C. flour
1/4 + 2 T. cold butter, cubed
1/2 t. salt
3 T. ice cold water
egg wash = 1 egg + 1 T. water, beaten

Cut the butter in the flour with salt.  Add ice water and stir with a fork.  Wrap in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.  Roll out in between 2 pieces of wax paper.  Cover the baking dish, brush egg wash on top, cut slits and bake for 12-15 minutes at 425F.

The whole Chicken Pastel process from start to finish only took an hour and a half.  I really do enjoy cooking.  Good thing Mona was here for lunch, let Hermie some and was able to send food upstairs to Tita Portia.  I am not really fond of eating left overs so I make sure when I cook something that is more than one serving, I have people to feed.