From My Kitchen

We do indeed love pie in our house, and I make this one often to use up for whatever is leftover in the fridge (hello there Christmas Turkey), or a pack of bacon comes in handy if leftovers are not forthcoming. The veg included is subject to change, it’s literally what’s in the fridge. Over the top decorations are optional of course. Serves 4 happily.

Ingredients

However much leftover meat you have

Or

Bacon

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion

1 stick celery

2 carrots

1 courgette

1/2 head broccoli

Handful green beans

1 tbsp veg bouillon

1 egg

1 pack puff pastry

Salt & pepper

Method

1. Chop all of the veg into around 2cm dice, and halve the green beans – then fry the onion in a frying pan for 8 minutes or so until soft.
2. If using bacon, then get that in there too and fry until the fat starts to render.
3. Add in the carrots & celery, fry for another few minutes.
4. Then throw in the broccoli, green beans and courgette, and (guess what?) fry some more.
5. Stir in the veg bouillon (or use a veg stock cube or two) and a good slurp of hot water to make a bit of a sauce, and give it a good stir.
6. Add in a slurp of double cream or crème fraîche, along with whatever cooked meat you are using (or not, if you’re not).
7. Leave to cool completely.
8. Heat oven to 180C.
9. Roll out your pastry until it is bigger than whatever pie dish you are using – you want it around half a cm thick, and big enough to overhang on all sides. Trim any excess and use that to create shapes / words or whatever you fancy putting on the top.
10. Put the cooled pie filling in your pie dish.
11. Beat the egg with a little milk and brush it around the edges of the dish, then lift the pastry on to the top, pressing down the edges to ensure they stick to the egg wash.
12. Brush the egg wash all over the pastry, and stick on any decorations that you may have made, and egg wash them too.
13. Use a knife to poke a few holes in the top and let out steam.
14. Bake in the oven for half an hour or so until the pastry is cooked.
15. Try not to burn your mouth if you dive in too quickly!