Turkey & Leek Pie

 

Following on from Christmas Day festivities we were, like many families, left with a surfeit of turkey.  Having spent the previous weekend lying on the sofa watching possibly 5 hours worth of Save With Jamie episodes back to back in the hopes of hinting towards the book for a Christmas present I was rewarded with said book and from it knew that I would be trying this recipe

As with all Jamie Oliver's recipes, they just bloody work and this is no exception.  Utterly simple and easy, but delicious and comforting and leading to the possibilities to change the recipe as you wish, as I have below.

Turkey & Leek Pie
Serves 4. 

2 rashers smoked bacon - chopped
couple sprigs of thyme, leaves picked
3 larges leeks, white end cut into chunks, green end finely sliced
400g cooked turkey meat, shredded into chunks
1 pt turkey stock
1 tbsp. crème fraiche
500g pre rolled puff pastry
6 pre-packed chestnuts, roughly chopped
3-4 crumbled dried sage leaves
1 egg, beaten
olive oil
2 tbsp. plain flour

Fry the bacon in a pan with thyme leaves and oil.  Add the leeks, S&P and fry for 3 mins then turn down the heat and cover for 30 mins, stirring from time to time, they will become soft and juicy.

Add the turkey meat and flour, mix well then add the stock. Add the crème fraiche and turn up the heat and bring back to the boil then turn off the heat.

Pour the mixture through a sieve to catch all the sauce in a separate pan. tip the meat mixture into your baking dish and smooth out.  By removing the sauce you get to keep the pastry crispy and golden.

Unfurl (or roll) your pastry add the chestnuts and sage to half of the pastry and fold over, roll out to the size of the dish.  Lay the pastry over the turkey and leek mixture, tucking it down around the sides.  Take a knife and score lightly in a diagonal over the pastry, wash with egg.

Pop into oven at 190oc/GM5 for 30-40 mins.  Remove and serve with the reserved sauce, that has been heated up poured over.  The sage and chestnuts add a lovely little flavour punch and texture to the creamy comforting dish.

I served this with a lovely red cabbage recipe I found on Good Food website.

Red Cabbage with Balsamic & Cranberries

3 tbsp. olive oil
2 large onions
1 tsp ground cloves ( or 6 whole cloves)
1 medium red cabbage, thinly sliced
200ml veg stock
3 tbsp. balsamic vinegar
100g brown sugar
200g fresh cranberries

Heat oil in large pan, add onions and fry for 10 mins until they start to caramelise.  Add cloves and cabbage, cook until the cabbage starts to soften.

Pour in the stock, add the vinegar and sugar.  Cover and cook for 10 mins.

Stir in the cranberries and cook for a further 10 mins.  Either serve or leave to cool and can be kept in fridge for upto 4 days or frozen, making sure to re-heat to piping hot when ready to serve.

This was a lovely sweet and slightly sticky side dish with a nice tang of cranberry and was even better the following day re-heated.