Kris:  Karmeliet is an iconic Belgian beer for me. Slightly sweet, citrusy and finishing with a subtle peppery, spicy flavour.Perfect as an ingredient and accompaniment to a Chicken, Leek and Mushroom Pie. 

 Finely slice half a brown onion and some leek and cook off in some olive oil on a medium heat for 5 minutes. 

Add 2 cloves of crushed garlic, some sprigs of fresh thyme, sliced bacon and some cracked pepper. 

Cook for a couple of minutes and pour in 2/3’s bottle of Tripel Karmeliet.

Add 4-5 sliced mushrooms and simmer for 5 minutes.

Add some shredded roast chicken and keep simmering.
(We had roast chicken the night before, a great way to use up leftovers)

Add some finely sliced silverbeet and season with salt and cracked pepper.

Pour in some cream and after a couple of minutes spoon out some of the warm liquid from the pan and put in a separate bowl. To this, whisk a Tbs of flour until smooth and then add back to the pan mixture and stir through. (doing this in a small separate bowl helps prevent flour lumps)

Take the filling mixture off the heat and allow to cool.
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200 C 

 Caroline: Cut out circles of puff pastry using whatever you have handy. We don’t have cookie cutters, so I used a coffee mug for my circles, get resourceful.

Caroline: Grab some baking paper to cut up; one circle for the base of each muffin mold to prevent sticking, and a square for your blind bake.
A blind bake is a quick bake of your base, giving it a bit of an extra cook so it doesn’t get too soggy when you add the filling.

Place your puff pastry circle in your muffin pan and press the edges against the walls. Put a square of baking paper over the puff pastry and fill it with rice or dry beans, this way it keeps it’s cupped shape. Bake for 5 min in 200 C oven.

Kris: Remove from the oven, discard the rice or beans and add the cooled pie filling. Add the top piece of pastry, pinch the edges to the base and glaze with some melted butter.

 Bake at 180 C for 25-30 minutes, until the top layer of pastry is golden and flaky.

Kris: This is such a great recipe for the season right now. Warm days and mild nights. It works so well with the beer too.

Caroline: So delicious! While I don’t really like Karmeliet on its own to drink, it was great in the pie! You could taste the perfect amount of beer-y bitterness and wheat-y funk cutting through the creamy filling. And, made in a muffin tray, each pie is perfect snack size (easier to justify eating a couple of them….)