Winner winner...

If you follow Carters on Instagram, you'll already know about their staff dinners. For the 23 of you that don't, before service each night, the chefs at the Michelin-starred Moseley spot take turns to make tea for the whole team. So popular have the daily "how to" posts become that exec chef Brad Carter has this week published a book of them. And because he chooses Birmingham, just like you, he's shared an exclusive recipe from Staff for you to recreate. You're having Chinatown Chicken Pie. Lucky! 

"This dish is the mad love child of takeaway curry and the most British of staples — the pie. The inspiration comes from Brum's brilliant Chinatown, and a childhood of chip shop curry sauce. It's simple, comforting and a definite staff favourite, that I often make for the team before Saturday night service. It's a mash-up of everything I live to eat: barbecued meat and Japanese katsu flavours with the most traditional of finishes. Be sure to get a couple of Hockley lagers on ice to help with the cooking process and your tea".

Recipe: Chinatown Chicken Pie (serves four)

You will need: 
4 Cotswold white chicken legs, boneless
2 leeks, chopped
1 onion, diced
50ml grapeseed oil
500ml chicken stock
100g golden curry paste [Chef says —You can get this from any Chinatown supermarket, though my favourite is actually Seoul Plaza in Selly Oak.] 

And for the puff pastry:
250g strong plain flour
250g butter, diced at room temperature, not soft
1tsp salt
around 150ml cold water
egg yolk
black onion seeds
1kg purple sprouting broccoli, trimmed
100g duck fat, melted

Method: Sieve 250g strong plain flour and 1 tsp fine sea salt into a large bowl.

Roughly break 250g butter into small chunks, add them to the bowl and rub them in loosely. [Chef says: You don't need work the mixture hard — you should still be able to see little bits of butter].

Make a well in the bowl and pour in about 100ml of cold water, mixing until you have a firm, rough dough, adding extra water if needed. Cover with cling film and leave to rest for 20 minutes in the fridge.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Knead gently and form into a smooth rectangle. Roll the dough in one direction only, until three times its original width (about 20 x 50cm). Keep edges straight and even. [Chef says: Don’t overwork the butter streaks — you should have a marbled effect].

Fold the top third of the dough down to the centre, and the bottom third up and over it. Give the dough a quarter turn and roll out again to three times the length. Fold as before, cover with cling film and chill for at least 20 minutes before rolling out.

Roll out to a £ coin thickness to fit your chosen vessel for your pie.

Preheat oven to 200°C before you start making the pie's filling.

Light coals on a barbecue to a medium heat. Add the chicken and grill on each side for six to eight minutes, until cooked. [Chef says: You could use a griddle but, for Brad, barbecuing adds loads of flavour and as Carter's uses their outdoor bbq all year around, Brad's challenging you to dust yours down.] Either way, slice the chicken into thick chunks and set aside.

Heat the chicken stock in a pan until boiling, then whisk in the golden curry paste, whisking continuously until the sauce thickens, which should take around ten minutes.

In another pan, heat the oil then fry the onion and leek until translucent but soft (for around eight minutes), then add the chicken and pour over the curry sauce, stir and season with salt. Keep warm.

Spoon the pie mixture into a vessel then top with the puff pastry, sealing the edges and glaze all over with the egg yolk.

Bake the pie for around 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Halfway through the cooking sprinkle the pastry with the black onion seeds.

Brush the broccoli with the melted duck fat then grill the broccoli over coals on a barbecue. Season with salt and serve alongside the pie.

For more recipes, Staff by Chef Brad Carter is available to buy right here. Or head to the book launch at the restaurant on June 9 from 4pm. OPM is catering.