FLOWER POT KITCHEN: CHRISTMAS DINNER PIE

28 Dec 2018

CHRISTMAS DINNER PIE

Buttery flakey shortcrust puff pastry stuffed and layered with all the Christmas dinner trimmings, cranberry cardamom sauce and served with a jug of roast turkey giblet gravy makes these a outstanding pie dinner from left overs. I like to make these as individual pies for that over indulgence maximum pastry consumption at this time of the year.

Prep time 30 minutes / Cooking time 25 minutes

Ingredients

(makes 8 small pies)

Left Over Filling

500g left over white and dark turkey meat

300ml left over to turkey gravy

8 chipolatas wrapped in bacon cooked

8 tbsp cooked left over stuffing

8 cooked brussel sprouts

4 tbsp cranberry sauce infused with cardamom

Shortcrust Puff Pastry

450g plain flour

110g cold cubed butter

110g lard

180ml cold water

10g sea salt

1 beaten egg for glaze

The Shortcrust Puff Pastry

Mix the salt in to the flour, roughly rub or cut the butter and lard in to the flour not to finely, add the water just bring together to form a ball working very lightly. Press the pastry in to a disk, to create a puff in the short crust fold the disk in half, push the pastry back out to a disk and turn 90 degrees, fold in half again, press out again, turn 90 degrees, repeat twice more so a total of four turns, this will create layers with the butter and lard which when cooked will melt and slightly puff up for a flakey short crust pastry, wrap in parchment paper and chill for 30 minutes. Pre heat your oven 200 C / 392 F.

Cut one third of the pastry off and reserve for the pie lids, roll out your pastry as thin as you dare and line your pie tins, fill each pie to the edges to create full layers, first with a little gravy and turkey, then stuffing next place a bacon wrapped chipolata in the centre and sliced brussel sprouts either side of the sausage filling in the gap with cranberry sauce, top the final layer with more turkey and gravy, brush the edges with the egg yolk and seal on the pastry top, decorate the pie top with pastry leaves, give the pastry a egg wash and bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

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LIFE MY PASSION

Welcome to my daily life of cooking, one winters day many years ago my family and I were all inspired by a back to back rainy day of River Cottage this got us to stop talking about and start actually doing, suddenly three weeks later eight vegetable beds were dug, greenhouse erected and our first vegetables were propagating, this was the start to raising and growing our own food, our fabulous son Oscar changed our path in life which lead us to sell our small thriving restaurant of 10 yrs and to start our new life (Terrifying!) a life of the self sufficient in touch with nature and seasons, taking a step back and looking forward to a slower change of pace and making the most of every moment.

My passion for cooking was stronger than ever and having time at home with Oscar I found I had a new direction and I was no longer striving for perfection, I was suddenly very passionate for the enjoyment of the other side of food, something I had not realised, being the Chef/Cook and every other duty of your own small restaurant made me see that I never actually took time to cook what I wanted!

So there I was muddy boots and hands digging deep in more than one sense and I found myself transported back in time to where everyone grew some of their own food, it is a wonderful world with a real sense of achievement and loss, Slugs Snails and Caterpillars! But thats another story! Childhood memories of summers when I lived with my grand parents reminded me of so much that I had learnt about the make do and mend generation that I had forgotten.

Now as a family we love our free wild food days where we gather what nature has provided, have gone from being mini mini garden urban small holders, who did raised pigs at home because we could not wait to find land and supporting ourselves from our garden to now owning a very small farm that allows us to grow more vegetables for the whole of our family and neighbours, raise our own gorgeous Gloucestershire Old Spot pigs, (Sausages!) and pets! Dorset Down sheep, chickens for eggs and pet goats! Suddenly having large quantities of produce started to wake up the Cook in me!

The Cook was awake that part of me that wants to cook for the masses and I found myself setting up Flowerpot Kitchen, a Farmers Market Stall, I wanted to use our honest raised meats and make old fashioned pork pies, rabbit pies and game pies from the local game keeper along with old fashioned techniques and the best hot water crust pastry. This in turn grew to a small cottage industry from home weekly supplying three farm shops and a deli along with also attending three farmers markets A few years later there came a time when my son Oscar's health changed and it was an easy decision to stop.

I still hold the occasional pop up 40 seater restaurant or gourmet lunch which we do for local charities for the love of sharing food and to remind that Cook in me why I love our go slower self sufficient life!

So here I am sitting amoung the vegetables watching the chickens loving that every season nature teaches me something new and that nature is in charge! She has taught me to just go with it and grow. Give it a try from a tray of salad on your windowsill to a few tomato plants it all counts.