- Serves 4 - Ready in 1 hour 15 minutes (add on 45 minutes more if you are making your own pastry)-
*make a 'leek and ham' pie (1st recipe) or a 'mushroom and chicken/turkey' pie (2nd recipe) or a 'leek and chicken pie' (3rd recipe) *
*To reduce our meat intake I've upped the veg content and reduced the meat content -so I've swapped the name of the pies round, to reflect that they are now stuffed with vegetables and have morsels of meat mixed in*
Gather together for the Leek and Ham Pie…
2 medium/large-sized leeks (400g in total), chopped into 0.5 cm rounds, then washed well, then drained in a colander for 1 minute (always wash leeks AFTER chopping them, to remove the soil from the inner layers).
1 tbsp butter (to grease the pie tin with).
4 tbsp plain flour, for dusting the work top and rolling pin.
300g ready-made shortcrust pastry (in a block, NOT ready-rolled as it is the wrong shape for the tin) OR make 300g rough puff pastry (made from; 90g chilled butter in cubes, 180g plain flour, pinch of salt, and 7 -8 tbsp very cold water) - my homemade rough-puff pastry always comes out like very nice shortcrust rather than like puff pastry, so I use it in recipes requiring shortcrust.
100g (1 small cereal-bowl full) cooked slow-cooker-ham leftovers (torn into bite-size pieces) / shop-bought chunky ham pieces.
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard.
1 tsp plain flour.
Pinch of ground pepper.
1 tbsp milk (to brush the pie top).
Serve the Leek and Ham Pie with…
Thinly sliced carrot rounds (microwaved on HIGH in 1 tbsp water for 5 -8 minutes).
Peas, put in a microwave-safe dish with 2cm boiling water from the kettle and microwaved on HIGH until hot (circa 5 minutes if cooking from frozen).
400ml gravy, made from gravy granules - follow pack instructions to bubble gently in a saucepan on the hob, 5 minutes before serving-up time) - I like Bisto Orginal Gravy Powder as is in a cardboard box.
Get making the Rough Puff Pastry (or just use shop-bought SHORTCRUST pastry)…
1. In a medium mixing bowl, coat the 90g of chopped, cold butter cubes in the 180g of plain flour and the pinch of salt.
2. Add the 7 -8 tbsp (tablespoons) of very cold water and use your hands to squash the flour and butter cubes roughly together into a lumpy clump of a ball. No need to rub in the butter.
3. On a clean and well-floured worksurface, shape the lump into a rectangle and use a rolling pin to roll it out (moving the rolling pin in ONE DIRECTION only) away from you, until you have a rectangle 1 cm thick.
4. Use plenty of flour on the worksurface and rolling pin.
5. Fold the pastry rectangle from the short end furthest from you – fold 1/3 of the dough towards you, then the nearest 1/3 away from you (so it folds over the first 1/3 you folded) – like folding a business letter. So you now have a rectangle made of 3 equal sized layers.
6. Give the pastry rectangle a ¼ turn clockwise, then repeat the ONE DIRECTION rolling and the 1/3 over 1/3 folding.
7. Give another ¼ turn clockwise.
8. Do the rolling, folding into thirds, and turning process 4 or 5 more times, on a well-floured board.
9. Wrap the pastry in a beeswax wrap (or a plastic bag which you can wash and re-use) and chill in the fridge for at least 30 min before rolling out.
Get cooking the Leek and Ham Pie…
1. Microwave the 400g chopped (washed and well drained) leeks in a microwave-safe, vented-lidded dish (the water from washing the leeks means you don't need to add extra water), for 5 minutes on HIGH to soften. Then allow the leeks to cool whilst draining them in a colander over a bowl, uncovered (to speed up cooling), until you are ready to use them.
2. Meanwhile, grease a 20cm diameter, shallow, metal cake tin / pie tin generously with 1 tbsp of butter, including the top lip.
3. Wipe clean, then dry, then flour your worksurface and flour your rolling pin (or use a wiped-clean wine bottle as a makeshift rolling pin).
4. Roll out 2/3 the pastry (i.e. 200g of it) to £1 coin thickness. Keep rolling it out until it is much bigger than the tin (so it will adequately and easily go up the sides). I use rolling pin guides (miraculous silicone circles that fit over the end of your rolling pin) to ensure the pastry is an even thickness.
5. Roll the pastry onto the (well floured) rolling pin and manoeuvre the pastry over the tin. Ease the pastry into the greaseproof-paper-lined tin gently, using a lump of spare pastry to push the rolled-out pastry around the edge of the tin's base.
6. Don't neaten the edges too much yet (just cut off any bits of pastry touching the work surface and add them to your unused pastry) as the pastry will shrink and settle as it sits waiting in the tin.
7. Scrape clean the worksurface, re-flour it and roll out the rest of the pastry to make the lid, to £1 thickness again, roll it out a bit bigger than you think it needs to be. Set aside.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C (180 C fan) or gas mark 6.
9. In a medium-large bowl mix the 100g (1 small cereal bowl full) of torn-up chunks of cooked ham with the leeks (the water still trapped in the layers of the leeks will ensure the pie filling is moist).
10. Mix in the 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard and the 1 tsp flour over the leek and ham mixture to thicken the 'sauce', add a pinch of ground pepper and stir.
11. Spoon the leek and ham filling into the pastry-lined tin and press the filling down well, so it is solid.
12. Wet the top edges of the pastry (which is on the lip of the tin) with a water-soaked pastry brush (or just wet it by dipping your fingers in water and running them around the top lip of the pastry in the tin).
13. Use the (well floured) rolling pin to manoeuvre the lid gently onto the pie.
14. Push the edges of the pie down gently with your fingers, so the pastry edges start to stick together.
15. Trim off the excess pastry using a knife held vertically, guided by the lip of the pie dish / tin.
16. Use the knife to make little cuts all around the edge of the pie lid (see the photo at the top of the page)- they don't have to be deep cuts, they make the two layers of pastry merge together so the filling doesn't escape during cooking.
17. Use the knife to make two 1cm-long slits in the lid of the pie for steam to escape out of.
18. Brush the top of the pie sparingly with 1 tbsp of milk (you don't want to make it soggy) - the milk will help the pie to brown nicely.
19. Optional - decorate the top of the pie with stars (or numbers if it's New Year) cut from any leftover pastry. As you've already brushed the pie top with milk, the stars will stick on easily. Be sure to brush the stars themselves (sparingly) to ensure they are baked golden in the oven. I like to use a mixture of randomly placed small and medium pastry stars. I use small stainless steel numbers similar to these Tala ones.
20. Bake on a low-down oven shelf for 50 minutes (turn the heat right up for the final 10 minutes to brown the top of the pie, if needed). If you have added stars as decoration, the pie will need a little longer as the pastry top is thicker where the stars are placed.
21. Leave to cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack in the tin (so you don't burn your fingers) then ease a dinner-table knife down the sides of the tin, all the way around . Tip the pie tin upside down onto a folded clean tea towel and the pie should (hopefully!) come out. If not, use a slice/flat knife to excavate the first (messy) piece from the tin . Further slices will then come out more neatly.
22. Serve with cooked carrots, peas and gravy.
Gather together for the Mushroom and Chicken Pie…
1 tbsp butter (to grease the pie tin with).
1 onion, thinly sliced and diced - to save time day-to-day, I keep a big box of onions I've chopped ahead-of-time, in the freezer, so I use 2 handfuls of those.
400g raw mushrooms (circa 20 medium ones, cut into approx. 10 pieces each - so slice into 5 and then halve).
120ml (8 tbsp) cold gravy (use leftover gravy from a roast dinner or make 250 ml gravy (I like Bisto Orginal Gravy Powder as is in a cardboard box) and use 8 tbsp of it in the pie and serve the rest with the pie. If using freshly-made gravy from gravy granules it can be added whilst hot to the cold pie filling, as long as you are baking the pie straight away.)
4 tbsp plain flour, for dusting the work top and rolling pin.
300g ready-made shortcrust pastry (in a block, NOT ready-rolled as it is the wrong shape for the tin) or make 300g of 'Rough Puff' pastry as detailed above in the Ham Pie recipe.
Pinch of ground, black pepper.
1 tbsp grainy mustard.
100g cooked chicken breast (white) meat, torn up into bite-size chunks (approx. one small cereal-bowl full).
1 tbsp milk (to brush the pie top).
Serve the Mushroom and Chicken Pie with…
Thinly sliced carrot rounds (microwaved on HIGH in 1 tbsp water for 5 -8 minutes).
Peas, covered with 200ml boiling water from the kettle and microwaved on HIGH until hot (circa 5 minutes if cooking from frozen).
Gravy - leftover from what you made for inclusion in the pie, from reheated leftover gravy from a Sunday dinner or from gravy granules - I like Bisto Orginal Gravy Powder as is in a cardboard box - and follow the packet instructions.
Get cooking the Mushroom and Chicken Pie…
1. Microwave the chopped onion and the 400g of chopped mushrooms, with 1 tsp of water, in a microwave-safe, vented-lidded dish, for 4 minutes on HIGH to soften. Drain away the cooking liquid. Allow the softened veg mixture to COOL with the lid off, until you are ready to use it.
2. Meanwhile, grease a 20cm diameter, shallow, metal cake tin / pie tin with 1 tbsp of butter, including the top lip.
3. Wipe clean, then dry, then flour your worksurface and flour your rolling pin (or use a wiped-clean wine bottle as a makeshift rolling pin).
4. Roll out 2/3 the pastry (i.e. 200g of it) to £1 coin thickness. Keep rolling it out until it is quite a bit bigger than the tin (so it will adequately and easily go up the sides). I suggest you use rolling pin guides (miraculous silicone circles that fit over the end of your rolling pin) to ensure the pastry is an even thickness.
5. Roll the pastry onto the (well floured) rolling pin and manoeuvre the pastry over the tin. Ease the pastry into the greased tin gently, using a lump of spare pastry to push the rolled-out pastry around the edge of the tin's base.
6. Don't neaten the edges too much yet (just cut off any bits of pastry touching the work surface and add them to your unused pastry) as the pastry will shrink and settle as it sits waiting in the tin.
7. Scrape clean the worksurface, re-flour it and roll out the remaining pastry to make the lid, to £1 thickness again, roll it out a bit bigger than you think it needs to be. Set aside.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C (180 C fan) or gas mark 6.
9. The pie filling is made by combining, in a medium-large bowl - the microwaved onion and mushroom pieces, the pinch of ground pepper, the 1 tbsp of grainy mustard and the 100g of shredded cooked chicken, with 6 tbsp of gravy - DON'T ADD ALL THE GRAVY YET! (i.e. add the 6 tbsp but keep 2 further tbsp in reserve). Stir very well.
10. Tip the filling into the prepared pie tin, press the filling down firmly into the pastry-lined tin. Spoon the final 2 tbsp gravy on top and spread the gravy out as a top layer. Now put the pastry lid in position on top of the pie.
11. Wet the top edges of the pastry (which is on the lip of the tin) with a water-soaked pastry brush (or just wet it by dipping your fingers in water and running them around the top lip of the pastry in the tin).
12. Use the (well floured) rolling pin to manoeuvre the lid gently onto the pie.
13. Push the edges of the pie down gently with your fingers, so the pastry edges start to stick together.
14. Trim off the excess pastry using a knife held vertically, guided by the lip of the pie dish / tin.
15. Use the knife to make little cuts all around the edge of the pie lid (see the photo at the top of the page)- they don't have to be deep cuts, they make the two layers of pastry merge together so the filling doesn't escape during cooking.
16. Use the knife to make two 1cm-long slits in the lid of the pie for steam to escape out of.
17. Brush the top of the pie sparingly with 1 tbsp of milk (you don't want to make it soggy) - the milk will help the pie to brown nicely.
18. Decorate the top of the pie with stars cut from any leftover pastry. As you've already brushed the pie top with milk, the stars will stick on easily. Be sure to brush the stars themselves (sparingly) to ensure they are baked golden in the oven. I like to use a mixture of randomly placed small and medium pastry stars.
19. Bake the pie on a low-down shelf in the oven for 50 minutes (turn the heat right up for the final 10 minutes to brown the top of the pie, if needed). If you have added stars as decoration, the pie will need a little longer as the pastry top is thicker where the stars are placed.
20. Leave the pie to cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack in the tin (so you don't burn your fingers) then ease a dinner-table knife down the sides of the tin, all the way around . Tip the pie tin upside down onto a folded clean tea towel and the pie should (hopefully!) come out. If not, use a slice/flat knife to excavate the first (messy) piece from the tin . Further slices will then come out more neatly.
21. Serve with cooked carrots, peas and gravy.
Gather together for the Leek and Chicken Pie…
2 medium/large-sized leeks (400g in total), chopped into 0.5 cm rounds, then washed well, then drained in a colander for 1 minute (always wash leeks AFTER chopping them, to remove the soil from the inner layers).
1 tbsp butter (to grease the pie tin with).
4 tbsp plain flour, for dusting the work top and rolling pin.
300g ready-made shortcrust pastry (in a block, NOT ready-rolled as it is the wrong shape for the tin) OR make 300g rough puff pastry (made from; 90g chilled butter in cubes, 180g plain flour, pinch of salt, and 7 -8 tbsp very cold water) - my homemade rough-puff pastry always comes out like very nice shortcrust rather than like puff pastry, so I use it in recipes requiring shortcrust.
100g (1 small cereal-bowl full) cooked chicken leftovers (torn into bite-size pieces) / shop-bought cooked chicken pieces.
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard.
1 tsp plain flour.
Pinch of ground pepper.
1 tbsp milk (to brush the pie top).
Serve the Leek and Chicken Pie with…
Thinly sliced carrot rounds (microwaved on HIGH in 1 tbsp water for 5 -8 minutes).
Peas, put in a microwave-safe dish with 2cm boiling water from the kettle and microwaved on HIGH until hot (circa 5 minutes if cooking from frozen).
400ml gravy, made from gravy granules - follow pack instructions to bubble gently in a saucepan on the hob, 5 minutes before serving-up time) - I like Bisto Orginal Gravy Powder as is in a cardboard box.
Get making the Rough Puff Pastry (or just use shop-bought SHORTCRUST pastry)…
1. In a medium mixing bowl, coat the 90g of chopped, cold butter cubes in the 180g of plain flour and the pinch of salt.
2. Add the 7 -8 tbsp (tablespoons) of very cold water and use your hands to squash the flour and butter cubes roughly together into a lumpy clump of a ball. No need to rub in the butter.
3. On a clean and well-floured worksurface, shape the lump into a rectangle and use a rolling pin to roll it out (moving the rolling pin in ONE DIRECTION only) away from you, until you have a rectangle 1 cm thick.
4. Use plenty of flour on the worksurface and rolling pin.
5. Fold the pastry rectangle from the short end furthest from you – fold 1/3 of the dough towards you, then the nearest 1/3 away from you (so it folds over the first 1/3 you folded) – like folding a business letter. So you now have a rectangle made of 3 equal sized layers.
6. Give the pastry rectangle a ¼ turn clockwise, then repeat the ONE DIRECTION rolling and the 1/3 over 1/3 folding.
7. Give another ¼ turn clockwise.
8. Do the rolling, folding into thirds, and turning process 4 or 5 more times, on a well-floured board.
9. Wrap the pastry in a beeswax wrap (or a plastic bag which you can wash and re-use) and chill in the fridge for at least 30 min before rolling out.
Get cooking the Leek and Chicken Pie…
1. Microwave the 400g chopped (washed and well drained) leeks in a microwave-safe, vented-lidded dish (the water from washing the leeks means you don't need to add extra water), for 5 minutes on HIGH to soften. Then allow the leeks to cool whilst draining them in a colander over a bowl, uncovered (to speed up cooling), until you are ready to use them.
2. Meanwhile, grease a 20cm diameter, shallow, metal cake tin / pie tin generously with 1 tbsp of butter, including the top lip.
3. Wipe clean, then dry, then flour your worksurface and flour your rolling pin (or use a wiped-clean wine bottle as a makeshift rolling pin).
4. Roll out 2/3 the pastry (i.e. 200g of it) to £1 coin thickness. Keep rolling it out until it is much bigger than the tin (so it will adequately and easily go up the sides). I use rolling pin guides (miraculous silicone circles that fit over the end of your rolling pin) to ensure the pastry is an even thickness.
5. Roll the pastry onto the (well floured) rolling pin and manoeuvre the pastry over the tin. Ease the pastry into the greaseproof-paper-lined tin gently, using a lump of spare pastry to push the rolled-out pastry around the edge of the tin's base.
6. Don't neaten the edges too much yet (just cut off any bits of pastry touching the work surface and add them to your unused pastry) as the pastry will shrink and settle as it sits waiting in the tin.
7. Scrape clean the worksurface, re-flour it and roll out the rest of the pastry to make the lid, to £1 thickness again, roll it out a bit bigger than you think it needs to be. Set aside.
8. Pre-heat the oven to 200 C (180 C fan) or gas mark 6.
9. In a medium-large bowl mix the 100g (1 small cereal bowl full) of torn-up pieces of cooked chicken with the leeks (the water still trapped in the layers of the leeks will ensure the pie filling is moist).
10. Mix in the 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard and the 1 tsp flour over the leek and chicken mixture to thicken the 'sauce', add a pinch of ground pepper and stir.
11. Spoon the leek and chicken filling into the pastry-lined tin and press the filling down well, so it is solid.
12. Wet the top edges of the pastry (which is on the lip of the tin) with a water-soaked pastry brush (or just wet it by dipping your fingers in water and running them around the top lip of the pastry in the tin).
13. Use the (well floured) rolling pin to manoeuvre the lid gently onto the pie.
14. Push the edges of the pie down gently with your fingers, so the pastry edges start to stick together.
15. Trim off the excess pastry using a knife held vertically, guided by the lip of the pie dish / tin.
16. Use the knife to make little cuts all around the edge of the pie lid (see the photo at the top of the page)- they don't have to be deep cuts, they make the two layers of pastry merge together so the filling doesn't escape during cooking.
17. Use the knife to make two 1cm-long slits in the lid of the pie for steam to escape out of.
18. Brush the top of the pie sparingly with 1 tbsp of milk (you don't want to make it soggy) - the milk will help the pie to brown nicely.
19. Optional - decorate the top of the pie with stars (or numbers if it's New Year) cut from any leftover pastry. As you've already brushed the pie top with milk, the stars will stick on easily. Be sure to brush the stars themselves (sparingly) to ensure they are baked golden in the oven. I like to use a mixture of randomly placed small and medium pastry stars. I use small stainless steel numbers similar to these Tala ones.
20. Bake on a low-down oven shelf for 50 minutes (turn the heat right up for the final 10 minutes to brown the top of the pie, if needed). If you have added stars as decoration, the pie will need a little longer as the pastry top is thicker where the stars are placed.
21. Leave to cool for 5 minutes on a cooling rack in the tin (so you don't burn your fingers) then ease a dinner-table knife down the sides of the tin, all the way around . Tip the pie tin upside down onto a folded clean tea towel and the pie should (hopefully!) come out. If not, use a slice/flat knife to excavate the first (messy) piece from the tin . Further slices will then come out more neatly.
22. Serve with cooked carrots, peas and gravy.
This photo shows a Rough Puff pastry mushroom and chicken pie, decorated with pastry stars in different sizes...delightful to look at and delicious to eat (and no wasted pastry)!
