Empadas de galinha — Portuguese chicken pies

Put 290 g flour and 3 g salt in a bowl. Add 125 g cold butter in cubes and rub it in with your fingers until you have fine crumbs. Pour in 35 g beaten egg and 60 g cold water, knead briefly just until combined and flatten. Cover and chill for at least 30 minutes. Keep the remaining 15 g egg covered in the refrigerator for brushing the pies.

Cut the chicken breast into cubes about 1 cm across. Finely chop the onion and garlic, and chop the parsley separately. After preparing the raw meat, wash the knife, cutting board and your hands before using them again. Measure out the 20 g flour for thickening the filling, along with the milk and seasonings.

Heat the olive oil in a wide skillet and cook the onion over medium heat for 5–6 minutes. Add the garlic, then half a minute later add the chicken and cook, stirring, for 6–8 minutes. Sprinkle in the measured flour, stir for a minute, then gradually pour in the milk. Add 4 g salt, the pepper and nutmeg. Simmer gently for another 5–6 minutes, stirring often, so that the chicken cooks through and the sauce thickens and coats the pieces. Stir in the parsley; the filling should be moist but have no loose liquid.

Transfer all the filling and sauce to a shallow dish and spread it in a thin layer. Leave it to cool for about 30 minutes, until it is completely cool; if necessary, refrigerate it after the initial cooling. Do not put warm filling onto the shortcrust pastry. Keep the dough and reserved egg in the refrigerator until you are ready to shape the pies.

Preheat the oven to 200°C, with top and bottom heat. Grease 12 cavities of a metal muffin pan, each holding about 100–120 ml, with the reserved 5 g butter. Divide the chilled dough into 12 equal pieces; set aside about a quarter of each piece for a lid. Reserve the 10 g flour for lightly dusting your hands and work surface, without adding any more.

Use the larger part of each dough portion to line the base and sides of a cavity, making an even layer about 2–3 mm thick. Divide all the cold filling among the pastry cases, scraping up the sauce and small pieces from the dish. Leave the top rim of pastry exposed so that you can attach the lid. Work all the pastry scraps and remaining reserved flour into the last dough portions.

Flatten or thinly roll out the reserved smaller dough portions to make lids. Cover the filling, join the edges carefully and press them together with your fingers. Brush the tops with all the reserved 15 g egg, spreading it thinly with a pastry brush. Use a knife to make a small slit in the center of each lid so that steam can escape during baking.

Place the pan on the middle rack of the preheated oven. Bake for 25–30 minutes, until the lids are evenly golden and the pastry edges are well baked. If the tops brown too quickly, cover them loosely with aluminum foil toward the end of baking. Remove the whole pan and set it on a heatproof surface.

Wait about 15 minutes for the pastry to firm up, then carefully loosen the edges and lift the pies out of the pan. Serve all 12 pies as six portions of two. Cool any leftovers, keep them covered in the refrigerator and use them the next day after reheating thoroughly.