If you’ve ever had Christmas dinner at someone else’s house, you’ll know everyone else on the planet does it wrong.
Some people believe in cauliflower cheese at the festive table; I think it deserves no such place. But I’ve committed my own seasonal sin by going completely without sprouts this year, opting for red cabbage instead.
Such differences don’t allow for super-prescriptive, down-to-the-gram recipes, so the chuck-whatever-in-and-see faves like bubble and squeak and soup shine after Christmas.
But Gordon Ramsay has offered another mix-what-you’ve-got option for people whose fridges are groaning with leftovers right now, and it’s easy as pie.
Gordon shared a seasonal leftover pie which involves sizzling leeks and mushrooms in a pan (leeks first: he removes them ahead of adding the fungi) before adding flour and stock to the sauce.
Then, he adds crème fraîche to the thickened sauce, bunging leftover turkey and ham to it along with some herbs and seasonings.
After that, he covers the lot with a puff pastry lid and bakes it according to the pack’s instructions to make a pie.
What I like about this recipe is how adaptable it is. Leeks can be subbed for onions or spring onions; you can use leftover cream (which we’re positively swimming in) or milk instead of crème fraîche.
We didn’t do a turkey or ham this year, but our remaining chicken will do the job fantastically. And there’s nothing stopping you from adding leftover carrots, cauliflower, or sprouts (which could be fried off at that first leek stage) into the pie mix, either.
“To encourage the pastry to rise as much as possible, ‘knock up’ the edges of the pastry by pressing horizontal lines into the pastry rim all the way around the rim – these groves will help the pastry lift in the oven,” Gordon advised.
Meanwhile, Mary Berry adds cheese to her similar “humble pie” sauce, which also includes peas and cauliflower. That’s definitely worth considering if you’re using a less rich dairy, like milk.
In her chicken and ham pie recipe, Nigella Lawson suggests shortcrust is a very decent alternative to flaky, buttery puff pastry ― perfect if you’ve got flour and butter to hand but no premade sheets of golden goodness.
