THE ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS PIE

the answer to all your leftover questions

Now, I’m vividly aware we are still a week away from Christmas dinner, so the idea of leftovers might feel a bit premature. BUT this is my Christmas gift to your future selves, ten days from now you will be sat with a fridge full of leftovers and be contemplating the many ways in which you could eat them. This recipe is your number one option. There are so many delicious things you can do with leftover turkey, nut roast, stuffing, veg and gravy - but I will go out on a limb and say that a pie is the most superior of all.

In my family we always have a meal dedicated to a leftovers pie, in fact, we often make two. My dad is famous for his Christmas pie, opting for a hot water crust pastry and going for a full stand pie. I, on the other hand, prefer a flakier pastry, and a more shallow pie, so opt for this rough puff parmesan pastry. There have been many years where I wasn’t eating meat, while the rest of my family do, so I would make a veggie pie using all the leftover veg and nut roast, dad making a turkey and ham number - it is always my favourite meal of the holiday season by a long shot.

On the subject of holidays, I will be taking a week off over Christmas from sending out this newsletter. I always publish on a Wednesday, and this year that falls on Christmas Day and New Years day. I can’t imagine you want a newsletter from me on either of those days, so I will be sending out an in between Christmas and New Year edition at some point over the next two weeks with regular programming resuming on January 8th 2025.

I hope you all have a beautiful Christmas, wherever you are this year and hope you all get a good chance to rest and recuperate. I’m planning to take some time away from my phone, for perhaps the first time all year, to read as many books as I can, cook as much as my heart desires without feeling the need to document one scrap of it and generally relish in the joy of not setting an alarm for a good few days in a row.

Sending love, speak to you on the other side.

Rosie x

THE ULTIMATE CHRISTMAS PIE

Come for the parmesan pastry, stay for the endless variations of this pie. It really can be whatever pie you want it to be, depending on how you're feeling and which leftovers you need to use up. So, be my guest, make it your own, if you don’t have meat to use up, pack it full of vegetables, if you have leftover fish - that would work too! In the case of fish, I would maybe swap the bacon and mushrooms for something more complementary, like potato, capers and dill. I would go as far to say that some broken up nut roast would work here too. Whatever you do, try and make the pastry, it’s so easy but SO delicious and really elevates all the other elements. When you do make it, please send me your pie pictures - I love to see them!

For the pastry:

300g butter, chilled and cubed

500g plain flour

70g finely grated parmesan

1.5 tsp salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 tbsp ice cold water

For the filling:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

2 leeks, finely sliced (can be substituted with onions)

150g pancetta, diced

300g chestnut mushrooms, roughly chopped

30 g plain flour

1 tsp salt

0.5 tsp black pepper

A small glass of white wine (roughly 120 ml)

500ml stock (ideally made from the carcass of whichever meat you are using, or if you are keeping the pie veggie, use veg stock with 1 tbsp of white miso)

250ml creme fraiche

30g parmesan, grated

800g leftovers!! - this could be anything from turkey, chicken, ham, pigs in blankets, vegetables (I like to use greens such as cabbage and sprouts) nut roast, roast potatoes, stuffing - or a mix of all the above

To make the pastry:

1. Add the butter, flour, parmesan, salt and ground black pepper to a large mixing bowl. Toss all the ingredients together until well mixed.

2. Flatten each cube of butter and begin to rub the butter into the flour, you want to leave a few chunky pieces of butter, to keep the pastry flaky. So stop rubbing in before you reach wet sand consistency, you’re looking for more of a rubble like texture.

3. Add half the iced water and use a butter knife in a slicing motion to distribute.

4. Bring the pastry together with your hands, adding enough water to just come together into a dough.

5. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and work it enough so that it just comes together into a cylinder.

6. Slice into two pieces, one double the size of the other.

7. Flatten both pieces into discs, wrap tightly and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, or up until you are ready to assemble the pie.

To make the filling:

1. In a large pot, over a medium heat, add the olive oil, butter and leeks. Sweat the leeks down until they are translucent and soft.

2. Add the pancetta and mushrooms, keep cooking until the pancetta is starting to colour and crisp up.

3. Add the flour, salt and pepper, mixing well to make sure the flour is evenly distributed, with no lumps or dry spots remaining.

4. Add the white wine and stock. Bring to the boil and then lower to a simmer for 20 minutes, stirring every now and again.

5. Stir in the creme fraiche and parmesan and allow to simmer for another 20 minutes, so the sauce reduces and thickens slightly.

6. Finally, take the pan off the heat and add your leftovers, be that turkey, chicken, ham, veg, nut roast, stuffing - or all of the above!

7. Set the filling aside to cool, you want to make sure it goes into the pastry fully cooled.

To assemble:

1. Take the pastry out of the fridge 15 minutes before you want to roll it, so it can come up a little from fridge temp.

2. Roll out the bigger disc of pastry into a circle measuring roughly 30cm in diameter, or at least a bit bigger than your pie dish, so you have a few centimetres of overhang.

3. Line the pie dish with the larger circle of pastry. To do this without tearing, I like to fold the circle of pastry in half and then in half again, so you have a triangle - ish shape, lay this inside the tin and then unfold the circle. You may still get a few cracks but you can just use your fingers to press the pastry back together.

4. Pour the chilled filling into the lined pie tin.

5. Then roll out the smaller disc to become the lid of the pie.

6. Lay the lid on top of the pie and pinch together the edges of pastry.

7. You should have a lip of overhanging pastry all the way around the pie, roll this in on itself to create a crust. Then, if you’d like to, you can crimp the crust by pinching the dough around a knuckle, all the way around the pie.

8. Egg wash all the visible pastry.

9. If you have time, or if you have made this pie well in advance, you can chill it for a further 30 minutes - or up to two days.

To bake:

1. Preheat the oven to 190c

2. With a sharp knife, pierce a hole in the centre of the pie.

3. Egg wash again, if you have chilled the pie for more than 30 minutes.

4. Bake in the centre of the oven for 40 - 50 minutes, or until the pastry is golden brown.

5. Serve with more greens, mash and gravy - ideally made from the stock of your meat!

6. Take a long nap.