Delicious Chicken Pie
from Lavinia Sinclair
Chicken pie: half a cooked chicken (or turkey) 1 leek, chopped (or onion), 1/2 packet of smoked streaky bacon cut into little pieces, 3/4 oz sliced mushrooms, 1 vegetable stock cube dissolved in 1 cup of water, 1/2 cup milk, 1 oz plain flour, 1/2 oz butter and a little oil.Method: Strip carcass of chicken, cutting meat into large pieces. If you prefer you can buy uncooked boneless chicken but you would need to pre-cook it at this stage. Saute leek (or onion), bacon and mushrooms in the butter and oil. When soft, add flour. Add stock, stirring continuously then add the milk so that the sauce is rich and creamy. If the sauce is a little thick, add more liquid. Add the pre-cooked chicken, and stir carefully until meat is completed coated and empty contents into a large pie dish. Again if you prefer to make this like a more traditional pie you can line the pie dish with the rolled out short crust pastry before putting in the filling. Cover with pastry making a vent in the pie top, and brush with milk. Bake in oven on a high temperature (200C/400F/gas 6) for around 25mins or until golden.
Leftovers too small for a portion?
Catt from Scotland
Leftovers too small for a portion? Cook rice and mix in leftover stew, meat, fish, veg or pasta sauce for a sort of risotto - a little will go a long way, especially if you add some frozen veg. Make sure everything is heated through before serving.
Making it easier to use dried pulses (very cheap to use!!)
Johanna Snel from Truro
Dried pulses are cheaper than tinned, but they take some time to cook. It's easy to soak and cook a whole pack in one go, use what you want and put portions in the freezer, ready to use when the recipe suggests you use a tin. That way, you'll never have half a pack of out- of-date beans or chickpeas lurking at the back of the cupboard!
