Happy Boxing Day! I am on The Saturday Show on Channel 5 today at 9am making recipes to use up leftovers. We simply didn’t have time to make this pie live on air but I wanted to post it up. It’s mighty useful when the leftovers mountain feels too steep to climb, as it get leftovers out of the fridge and safely stowed away in the freezer for another day.
Lots of great recipes like this in my books, Recipes from a Normal Mum, (available on Amazon, at The Works, Waterstones, WHSmith, The Book Depository and many smaller outlets) and The Power of Frozen (available exclusively in Iceland stores and through their website) which is just £2.99 at the mo! And no, the recipes are not just about frozen food. Every recipe has instructions of how to make with chilled ingredients too.
Last December: Two minute marinade for chicken and Melted snowman biscuits and Egg nog truffles and Chocolate biscuit Christmas pudding and Drunken Amaretto mince pies and Cheese concertina loaf and Hot chocolate on a stick and Sausage, sage and squash lasagne and Chocolate hazelnut granola and Orange and cranberry loaf and Chocolate ganache tart.
Two years ago: My slow cooker beef bourguignon pie and Crumble topped mince pies and a very ugly but delicious cranberry & raspberry traybake
Three years ago: Mini Yorkshire pudding canapes and Christmas pudding fizz and Brandy butter icing and Rudolf morsels
Four years ago: Lime meringue pie with chocolate pastry and Christmas scones and Ginger cake with Christmas cottage and Hot chocolate on a stick
Five years ago: Moonuts and Cheese biscuits and Parsnip soup and Inauthentic chicken tagine
Boxing day pie
Ingredients:
- Cooked stuffing
- Gravy
- Cooked shredded turkey
- Cranberry sauce
- Cooked roast parsnips
- Cooked Brussel sprouts, sliced
- Cooked shredded ham
- Cooked roast potatoes
- Stilton
- Flour, for rolling
- 500g all butter puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten with a pinch salt
It is pointless to give quantities for this recipe, given that the spirit of it is all about using up leftovers.
Take a large pie dish, preferably metal (puff pastry rises better when sat on a metal rim) and set about layering your leftovers. (You could just mix everything up but there’s something pleasing about layers in a pie). I have written the order of the ingredients as a suggestion. But really, it’s up to you. The stuffing at the bottom guards the turkey from the direct heat of the metal dish, though keeping the turkey towards the bottom is worth doing – it benefits from the gravy and fat from the other ingredients seeping down as they heat through, stopping it from drying. Be sure to add gravy after each layer, enough to give a thin cover.
Roll the pastry out onto a well-floured work surface to about 3mm thickness. Leave to rest for 5 minutes to avoid shrinkage. Paint the rim of the pie dish with some beaten egg then with both hands under the pastry, spread wide, with palms upwards, move it over the dish. Be careful not to stretch the pastry as you do this. Use a sharp knife to trim the edges, press the pastry down onto the rim with a fork and paint with egg wash. Either bake in a preheated oven at 200°C/fan 180°C/gas mark 6 for 30 minutes until the lid is puffed and golden, or open freeze, then wrap well and save for another day. Defrost in the fridge overnight before baking as above.
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Holly Bell 