I love using up leftovers. I think it’s the culinary equivalent of having a disco nap in the afternoon before you go out, waking up and feeling like it’s morning again. 2 days for the price of 1. Or rather in this instance, 2 meals for the price of 1.
Anyway, for me the important thing about leftovers is that they should never feel like a not-quite-as-good-meal as the original they came from. In fact, I’d go as far as to say they should usurp the original meal in a needy, ‘love me’ fashion.
These little pot pies were conjured up from leftover roast chicken. I bloody love roast chicken and find it hard to improve upon, however adding a sausage hit to pretty much anything can only make it better in my humble opinion.
Ingredients:
- the meat from 2 cooked chicken legs, stripped and shredded
- 3 gorgeous sausages cut into quarters
- 5 chestnut mushrooms sliced
- half a red onion diced (Red ’cause it was in the fridge and is slightly exotic. White will do too.)
- a teaspoon of butter
- 25g butter
- 1 heaped tbsp of plain flour
- semi skimmed or whole milk (about half a pint)
- 2 tsp of wholegrain mustard
- leftover mashed potato or breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to Gas 5 and pop a baking tray onto the top shelf. Heat the teaspoon of butter in a frying pan and add the onion. Fry gently until soft, then add the sausages and continue to fry until browned. Just before you take them off the hob turn up the heat and add the mushrooms giving the whole mixture a quick flash of intense heat. Set aside.
Whilst the sausages and onions were gently frying you can make the mustardy sauce. Melt the 25g butter in a small saucepan, add the the flour and whisk on a medium heat until it looks yellow and thick. Then add the milk, a little at a time, stirring furiously to avoid lumps. Keep the temperature medium to high. Add milk until the mixture looks like thick gravy, then add the wholegrain mustard and a bit of salt and pepper if you like.
Add the sausage mixture and chicken to the sauce, then divide between two pie dishes. Next top your pies! I used some leftover mashed potato and swede for one (Mr Bs) and some frozen wholemeal breadcrumbs for the other (mine, in an altruistic fashion.)
Pop onto the baking tray (to avoid spillages in the oven and also to conduct heat a little better to the bottom of the pies) and leave in the oven for around 25 mins until the tops are browning and the sauce is peeping out over the topping and bubbling up. Serve with peas or green beans or something else that offsets the sausagey pie naughtiness.
I really loved my pie. Mr B may not have been as keen. He commented that he’d never had sausage in a pie before. I commented that he’d never lived. Next time he’s getting chicken and mushroom and I’ll have sausage and sausage. A girl can never have too much sausage.
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