Leftovers Turkey and Leek Pie

This year I cooked my very first turkey. I was cooking for 7 and following advice from my mother bought a turkey that fed 8-10. Now, I probably should have realised that following advice from my mother would entail in rather large portions, but I did not realise how big turkeys are! Even after some pretty hefty platefuls I still had enough to feed a small army so my quest this week is to use it up. I should note at this point I cooked this on 21^st and froze it whilst I went away for Christmas, as such I didn’t have any cooked veg leftover but if I did I’d have thrown them in at the same time as the turkey all chopped up. I had some fine beans left from our fake Christmas (which were an entirely unnecessary purchase as I already had far too much food and therefore didn’t even get cooked) so I used them up in this along with 3 leftover baby courgettes. You could use any number of other vegetables in this; carrots, green peppers, sprouts, cabbage, parsnips whatever you’ve got available really. Add the harder veg just after the leeks and the softer veg near the end and you’ll be grand. I also cooked this in goose fat for that added touch of decadence and it’s actually far healthier than many of the other fats.

Ingredients

Leftover turkey *

500g leeks

250g mushrooms

250g extra fine beans

200g bacon lardons **

1 onion

2 garlic cloves

2-3 sprigs thyme

Sprig fresh rosemary

1 teaspoon dried sage

½ teaspoon dried oregano

2 heaped tablespoons flour

1 litre chicken/veg/turkey stock***

About 100 ml double cream

300g puff pastry ****

1 egg, beaten

*use whatever you have left and add more veg if necessary to bulk it up. I used about 700g

**if you have cooked a ham/gammon then you can use that instead of these

***I actually used half chicken soup and half vegetable stock

****you can get this already rolled to make this super easy!

Dice the onions and garlic, finely chop the leeks and beans and halve or quarter the mushrooms depending on size. Shred or pull apart the turkey into chunks.

Heat a small glug of oil/knob of butter/blob of goose fat (delete as applicable) on high and add the lardons. Cook until the fat on the bacon is melting, moving occasionally to ensure they don’t burn or stick, and turn the heat down. Once starting to brown add the onions, leeks and garlic.

Cook with the lid on, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, until the mixture is about a third of its original volume. 

Add the mushrooms and beans and continue to cook for another five minutes or so.Whilst this is cooking take out your pastry and roll out to about ½ cm. Add turkey, herbs and mustard and mix to ensure everything is moist before adding the flour and mixing again.

Once the flour is incorporated slowly add the stock and turn the heat up. Add the cream, bring it to the boil and then turn off the heat and taste for seasoning, adding salt and pepper as you see fit.

Using a slotted spoon fill your pie dish with the filling, keeping the excess liquid to serve with pie, cover with pastry and cut off any excess. You can add an extra strip around the edge, pinching it to the dish if you have enough leftover. 

Cut a cross in the middle of the pastry to allow steam to escape (you can also slash it across diagonally if you prefer), glaze with a beaten egg and cook in a hot oven (200-220 C) until golden and crisp.