Turkey and Leek Pie

I made this for some freinds after Thanksgiving and they loved it so much they have asked for the recipe ever since - so here it is:

Turkey Leek and Potato Pie.

Serves 8 (I make this in my biggest lasagna dish - you could of course make it smaller and half the amount!

4 good sized fat leeks (8 if they are skinny small leeks)- Thinly sliced
5 cups cooked turkey - chopped
1 pint turkey stock
8 medium sized potatoes (approx 1 per person) - Maris Piers work well as they mash well.
1/2 tub cream cheese (if you are diary free you could substitute soy cream alternative here about 1 cup)
1 tbls corn flour (corn starch)
2 cups grated cheese (I often use a mixture of cheddar and grana padano (or vegan equivalent if dairy free)
1 tsp Oregano
Ground black pepper to season.

Dice your potatoes (I leave them skin on if clean and organic) and boil them until soft enough to mash (this will depend on the variety of potatoes you use but I often find 10 minutes is about right.

While your potatoes boil, In a pan slowly fry down the leeks in a small amount of olive oil cook on a low slow heat until the leeks begin to melt down beautifully. When you have melty leeks add your turkey and seasonings. Cook a few more minutes at the same heat, then add the cream cheese and allow it melt in. Add the stock a small amount at a time. Retain a small amount.

Put the corn flour into a bowl, add a little of the stock at a time and stir in until smooth, add a little water if required to thin the mixture until its is no longer thick. Add this to the pan and simmer. This will thicken your sauce over a few minutes. Turn off the heat and pour your sauce into your lasagna dish or casserole.

When the potatoes are cooked mash them, add a little butter or olive oil if dairy free and some milk or soy cream substitute, then add your cheese (retaining 1/2 a cup) Mix the mixture well - then spoon over the sauce in your dish covering the sauce entirely. Top with the remaining grated cheese and pop in the over for about 20 minutes at about 180c / 350f / Gas Mark 4 until golden on top.

Serve with some nice steamed vegetables (I like it with broccoli!) and enjoy.

I have also made this in the larger quantity and then made one smaller dish to cook and eat now and a second dish for the freezer to defrost and cook

Thanksgiving....

Being an Anglo American Household we celebrate Thanksgiving here - and even though hubby is currently working away and Thanksgiving is not a holiday I have ever celebrated in England I have ended up hosting a Thanksgiving meal here at home in England. My little girl is learning about her American roots as well as her English ones....

So first the Turkey.... I bought one but sadly as its not quite turkey season here I had to get what was available and all they had was an absolutely enormous beast of 24lbs enough to feed a football team. I decided there was no way I wanted to be cooking this beast for a week - so I butchered it up, carefully removing the crown to roasr for Thanksgiving supper and reserving the rest of the carcass for other dishes, soups and stock. This worked out fabulously!!!

I'd highly recommend roasting the crown separately, when you roast the whole bird you end up often drying out the breast in an attempt to get clear juices from the legs which always seem to take longer. This meant I had lovely moist turkey and was not quite so swamped with meat. Also it out me in the odd position of eating left overs before the actual thanksgiving dinner as I roasted the other part of the bird first stripped out of meat and made some of my favourite turkey left overs recipes of Turkey and Vegetable Korma and Turkey and Leek Pie - Yum! It also meant I had some lovely stock to make my thanksgiving gravy with and I had had the chance to let it cool and strip off the layer of fat to keep it healthier!

I have also learnt a new way of carving it - I saw it last year on Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Christmas show - he removed the whole breast and then sliced it meaning that everyone has a good piece of turkey - no one gets left with the dry bits and everytone gets a bit of bit of skin as well.

I made my favourite goose fat roasted potatoes, honey and cumin roasted root vegetables, sweetcorn, and steamed brocolli, with five spice gravy, homemade cranberry sauce and homemade redcurrant jelly. And as my american freinds I had invited didn't make it we missed out on the traditional american trimmings - but the meal was absolutely delicious!! Viva Roast Turkey!!!!

Morrocan Spiced Roast Chicken with Cheesy Cous cous and roasted vegetables

I've said it before - I love Chicken!! I am also very lazy. One of my favourite ways to cook it is just to roast a whole chicken and use it over a few days in a few different ways.

Thats exactly what happened here.

Morrocan Spiced Roast Chicken with Cheesy Cous cous and roasted vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (preferably a tasty free range one!)
1 Lemon (stabbed furiously a few times to relsease the juices)
A few squirts of Olive Oil (I use a pump action one)
2 tsp Morrocan Spice (I love a nifty little one by Nomu)

Chopped vegetables (I'll be honest and say i just chopped what was lurking in the fridge but this worked well - feel free to fling in whatever you have lurking...)
2 roughly chopped courgettes,
1 chopped leek
1 peeled and roughly chopped sweet potato
1/2 a peeled and roughly chopped butternut Squash
2 cups cous cous
1 cup cheddar cheese

Stab the lemon mercilessly then stuff into the chicken's cavity. (This will keep the bird moist and juicy) Spritz a little olive oil onto the bird and then rub over the spices. Scatter the vegetables around the bird in the tin - cover and roast (make sure you calculate long enough for your size of bird)

When the birds is cooked and resting prepare your cous cous. I place mine into a bowl, just cover with boiling water then cover for 5 minutes. Tne stir in the cheese. This works just as well without the cheese - but my little one loves making little cous cous balls - and adores how with the cheese it becomes pliable. - Hey if it helps her eat it I'm not complaining!

Serve the cous cos with the roasted veg from the pan. For this dish I remove the chicken breasts, chop and share. This makes it a delicious light meal and leaves plenty of chicken left for other recipes (and the carcass for making stock - yum!) This tastes fabulous with hummous and flat bread!

Hope you like it :)

We need to talk about Salt....

No recipes today... Just an observation. Who in this day and age would slather a child's meal in salt?? I try not to be too pedantic in the whole healthy eating thing - I suppose it is tiresome to some folk, but these days everyone is talking about salt and how much salt is in our food.

I haven't cooked with salt in more than 10 years.... Perhaps that is a slight exaggeration, I do use salt when the chemical balance of the recipe requires it - in baking for example. Otherwise I leave it to my guests to add salt at the table. When I want something salty I embrace the natural salts that exist within foods to give a salty kick - in bacon / pancetta etc. Pity my poor hubby who is American and was raised with half a ton of salt in everything and then on everything. He practically went cold turkey when I moved in. But ask him now and he still likes salt but he doesn't add it to his food often (perhaps to chips which we eat on occasion) and his health is much better for it.

Its not that I dislike salt, I love it - I just don't want it in any quantity on a daily basis. I actually don't miss it so much any more. Not being used to salt means I only want to eat a few crisps if they're offered. Helps with the old dieting thing!

I suppose I was just shocked that with even the dreaded McD's leaving salt off thier fries these days that my daughter's kids meal was absolutely drenched with the stuff. It was in an otherwise healthy farm shop nr Hungerford j ust off hte A4 for those in the know - dissapointed?? You bet.