Easy chicken, leek and mushroom pie & donna hay issue 38

1 tablespoon olive oil
50g butter
1 leek, sliced
200g button mushrooms, chopped
2 x 200g chicken breast fillets, trimmed and chopped
sea salt and cracked black pepper
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
6 sheets store-bought butter puff pastry
1 egg, lightly beaten
Preheat oven to 200ºC. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat, add the butter, leek and mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes. Add the chicken and cook for 2-3 minutes until sealed and lightly browned. Add salt, pepper and mustard and mix to combine.

Cut 4 x 14cm rounds from 2 sheets of pastry, and 4 x 16cm rounds from remaining sheets. Place 14cm rounds on baking trays lined with baking paper, top with chicken mixture and brush edges with egg. Top with remaining pastry, press edges to seal and brush with egg. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Serve with steamed green beans or a simple salad. Serves 4.

Note to self-unearth hidden charms of the season and rediscover the unique flavours of the autumn harvest.

Bake you pie and eat it too.

There's nothing quite like the smell of a freshly baked golden pie wafting through the house. Now's the time to make one yourself with our fail-safe recipes, complete with tips to avoid the trickery of pastry making. 'We really wanted to demystify what I see as one of cooking's most daunting of tasks', says Donna of pastry. Using the season's choicest fruits, delicious sweet fillings such as plum, pear and pumpkin create varied textures in explosions of colour and taste. Craft your own perfect bite - it's easy as pie.

A flash in the pan

Time waits for no-one, and certainly no oven - Autumn Fast Food tailor makes mouth watering recipes for people on the go. Take this months cover recipe - an appetizing chicken leek and mushroom mix, encased in a crunchy, flaky pastry that only takes 20 minutes to bake. Home cooked and brimming with fresh goodness, this isn't the only speedy dish on offer - try a fragrant yellow chicken curry, a subtle zucchini and chilli paste, even a warm mushroom, pancetta and fetta salad. Prepared in minutes - these tasty meals guarantee satisfaction.

Prepare to be bowled over by our satisfying soup recipes

A heart robust soup is unrivalled when it comes to comfort food, full of wellbeing and goodness. "It's great when you can load up your soups with fresh produce, fragrant herbs and something substantial like chickpeas or pasta," says Donna. "It becomes a one pot, one bowl wonder that will certainly satisfy." A dollop of mustard mash or super soaking char-grilled bread are a few of the many hints and ideas to bulk up the humble soup and ward off the coming chill.

Donna hay magazine - Issue 38
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Review: donna hay is the handbook for those who love to cook with style & ease. Once again Donna brings fabulous easy to replicate recipes with ease and mouth-watering images.