Deep Filled Leftovers Pie

With all the overspending at Christmas I'm trying to put off a Supermarket shop until the weekend in an attempt to use up various leftovers and all the food-that-we-didn't-need-but-bought-because-it-was-Christmas. The first problem that arose was not having any bread. An easy solution would be to put the older two children on school dinners for the remainder of the week but as Jack still needed a packed lunch I decided to make a loaf in the breadmaker - problem solved. If only we had a cow, some chickens and an orchard we could be self sufficient!


Next I needed to make dinner and use up leftovers from a dinner made in between Christmas and New Year that I had put in the freezer. It consisted of a couple of pork chops, some carrots, broccoli and potato and I needed to stretch it between five without anyone feeling like that were eating less that half a pork chop each. I decided to make a pie but as I'd used all of my regular plain flour up on the run up to Christmas baking a gingerbread house and biscuits  it was necessary to use wholemeal. 


The recipe is as follows :


For the pastry
250g Plain Wholemeal Flour
pinch of salt
110g butter, cubed
4tbsp cold water


For the filling
2 cooked pork chops*
cooked carrots*
cooked broccoli*
cooked potato*
1/2 pint milk
5 tsp cornflour
100g Wensleydale & cranberry cheese**
1tsp Dijon mustard


* or any other leftovers
** or any other cheese 

• Either rub the butter into the flour & salt with fingertips, or use a food mixer or food processor which is much easier, until it resembles breadcrumbs. 
• Add the water and mix until it starts to come together, wrap in clingfilm & refrigerate for 15 minutes.
• Roll out pastry to cover the base of a pie dish and enough for the top.
• Cut the chops and vegetables into bite size pieces
• Boil the milk and add the cornflour mixed to a paste with a little cold water or milk - add a little at a time as you may need more or less cornflour to thicken to custard consistency.
• Stir in crumbled cheese and mustard, then stir the sauce into vegetables/meat
• Spoon filling into pie dish and lay the pastry on top
• Crimp around the edges with a fork and brush all over with milk
• Bake in a 180 degree oven for approx 45 minutes - or until golden brown

not looking too appetising yet

ready for the oven

fresh out of the oven

I served the pie with honey roasted parsnips and mixed vegetables (both from the freezer).
My pastry will never win prizes and always develops holes when I'm rolling out but I must admit this did taste good. The decorative leaves were partly to use up excess pastry and partly to cover over the cracks.
Verdict from the family taste testers : Delicious (well all except Jack who gagged on the pastry and refused to eat any more).