Please yourself pie

Firstly I would like to say thank you to those of you reading my blog and trying out my recipes. I've had nearly 5000 views and I'm over the moon to think I may be helping some of you live a bit cheaper. In these frankly miserable days where the news throws out so much negativity, we really do need to spread some cheer! Now this recipe is great for using leftover turkey, as well as chicken, and is very tasty! It's cheap to make and very filling too. If you don't eat it all it's great cold the next day! You can pretty much throw in anything to fill it out, please yourself, if you have leftover stuffing , put that in, or some sausages need using up, throw them in. You could add cream or creme freche to make it a bit richer we had it without and it was still delicious. It's your pie put what you want in but the base is chicken/ turkey and leeks.

Leftover chicken/ turkey meat (I actually used a full chicken that was reduced to £2.79 in Lidl)
2/4 leeks sliced
Tsp dried thyme
3 rashers smoky bacon/ streaky whichever you have/want
150g mushrooms
1 pt chicken stock
Tbsp flour
Ready rolled puff pastry

Add chopped leeks to a pan with a nob of butter on a medium heat and sweat, with the lid, on stirring occasionally for about ten minutes.
Fry your chopped bacon strips on a high heat with the thyme and mushrooms.
Transfer the bacon and mushrooms into the leeks and stir in the flour until dissolved.
To deglaze the bacon pan, put it back on the heat and pour in some of the stock until any residue has dissappeared.
Pour all the stock into the pan with the leeks, not forgetting the stock from the frying pan with the flavour from the bacon!
Stir in the meat until it's bubbling nicely and simmer for ten minutes.
Transfer into an oven proof dish and top with the pastry.
Score some nice diagonal lines with a knife and if you want a golden pastry brush with beaten egg (it doesn't matter if you don't do this it just looks nicer)
Put into a preheated oven at 180 for 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Cheap and easy autumn tea

Leek and potato soup with warm cheese scones.

Soup ingredients.
Onion
4 leeks
3 potatoes
Half pint veg/chicken stock

Chop the onions, leeks and potatoes into chunks and sweat in butter or oil in a pan until soft. Add the stock and boil for about ten minutes. Blend to desired thickness as salt and proper to taste. If too thick thin with a bit of milk or water.

Cheese scones.

225g plain flour
2 and a half tsp baking powder
50g butter
125g cheese
Tsp mustard/powder
140ml milk

Mix flour and baking powder together, rub in the butter and mustard and then add the grated cheese. Moving with a knife add the milk until dough is formed. Roll out as thick as you want scones and cut. Put in preheated oven at 180 for 20 mins.

Hope you enjoyed my autumn cheap tea!