Leftover anything pie!

I slow cooked a ham hock this week. So alongside all of the meat, I have a big bowlful of stock for a ham and pea soup tomorrow. While I was looking around the beans/legumes/chickpeas etc sections of tesco last week, I realised that marrowfat peas (the type of peas that make mushy peas) are half the price of chickpeas, cannelini beans and haricot beans. So I picked up a packet and my plan today is to make some ham and pea soup with the ham stock, a little leftover ham and some soaked marrowfat peas. Any veg leftover will be chucked in, some pearl barley to thicken and will add dumplings for an hour before serving.

Yesterday I did a pie! I do leftover 'anything' pie. Usually with leftover meat and stock, but you can do a veggie one, lentils, beans etc. 'Anything' leftover or needing using up.

Today I had leftover:

A sorry looking carrot

Some ham

Some cooked chicken in the freezer

Onion

Chicken stock

Now, I hate pastry! And it hates me! Its sticky, messy, if you roll it too much it goes hard and chewy, flour everywhere and dough under my nails, ugh!! But its worth learning how to make good pastry from scratch for 3 main reasons:

1 - Its cheap! Its plain flour, half the weight of the flour in fat, any fat, and a little water. I used....wait for it....LARD! shock horror! If you think lard is gross, your probably right. But I can garuntee you, you will have eaten far grosser without realising it. Go google what goes into a bag of cheese and onion Walkers, how vegetable oil is pressed, or what those numbers mean on the ingredient label of a jar of korma sauce! For desserts I use butter, for savoury - lard. 34p block. or a mix of butter and lard if im feeling very well off ;)

2 - 'Anything' can become a meal. Literally, you can make a potato pie! Lentil pie! Leftover meat and veg pie. Mince and onion? Lamb and rosemary/mint? Steak? Creamy mushroom? That box of stew lurking in the freezer that no-one liked? You can get anything lurking in your fridge (within reason!) or in the reduced section of a supermarket, and stick it in a pie. Most people I know eat pie, and most people dont realy care whats in it! Correct seasoning and crusty pastry makes most things edible.

3 - Variety. Youd be amazed, when youve learned pastry making as a skill, what other recipes are suddenly available to you! Quiche. Pasties. Tarts. And the majority are self contained and can be transported for picnics/pack lunches. Which makes a welcome change from sandwiches. 

Sooooooo:

The rule is, half the weight of fat to the weight of your flour. A little water until it comes together.

I think I used 200g plain flour and 100g lard. I just added water a few drops at a time until it came together. 

Squish it all into a ball and place onto a floured surface:

Divide into two balls, one for the lining, one for the pie lid.

Roll it out adding more flour if it sticks, and line a greased dish:

Trim off the excess.

Noe pastry purists will want you to 'blind bake'. I used to do this, basically you prick the base (always do this regardless!) and line it with greaseproof paper, place some baking beans or rice in the centre and spread evenly and bake for 10-15 mins. I skip the whole baking beans bit and just stick it in the oven and bake for 15 mins. Just because it makes the base less soggy and crisper. If your in a hurry you dont even have to do this, just fill and bake.

While its blind baking, prep your filling:

I have a pot in the fridge, it is full of fat skimmed from the top of chicken stock once cooled. I fried some onions and a grated garlic clove in that. I know, eeeewwww, whatever! See my post above as to what really constitutes as gross food. It saves my precious expensive olive oil, it adds depth and flavour to the pie and you seriously need just a teaspoon and it coats the entire pan, added a dodgy carrot rolling around the bottom of the fridge that needed using up.

Add stock, I used chicken stock from a leftover carcass. Which by the way was cooked about 2 weeks ago! Ive always chucked stock I havent used within 3 days. But I read an article last week, apparently if the stock is sealed under a good layer of fat once cooled, it can keep up to a month! I had no idea, but this was certainly fine and it was from a chicken cooked 2 weeks ago.

Simmer until your ingredients are cooked through and take a little liquid out into a seperate bowl:

Mix in some cornflour and add the mix back into the pan. Repeat until the mixture is as thick as you want.

I waited until the mixture cooled before I added the cooked meat, just because I made it in the morning for evening tea, and i didnt want the meat heating up again before putting it in the oven at tea-time. 

Fill in your pie base, roll out the other half of the pastry to make the lid and seal by pressing your (clean!) thumb round the edges. Trim the edges, and your ready to go! ;)

Pierce the top a couple of time so it lets the steam escape without exploding!

Served ours with roast potatoes and honey carrots :)