This is part of my ‘Supermarket-free Lent‘ and also includes some Christmas leftovers. I love Turkey Pie; it is usually a Boxing-day meal in my family so it is quite a treat to have it in March. If I had had some I would also have added bacon or leftover gammon to the pie-filling; however seeing as I had defrosted the gammon in error a couple of weeks ago and ended up making a slightly unusual curry with it I had to make do!

This served three people with leftovers.

Ingredients

• A couple of handfuls of cooked turkey (mine was leftover from Christmas), chopped into chunks
• 1/2 Onion
• a knob of Butter
• A Leek
• Mustard seeds
• 3/4 Pint Milk
• a heaped tablespoon of Cornflour
• 1/2 teaspoon Mace
• a slosh of Cream
• Pepper

For the pastry

• 8 oz flour
• 4 oz fat (3 oz Margarine, 1 oz Lard)
• 2 tablespoons of water

Method

For the pastry
This is an Allcock-family cheat; put the pastry ingredients into a food processor and whizz until combined, adding more water if necessary a splash at a time. You will find that after a minute or so the pastry comes together in a nice ball ready to roll out.

For the filling
In a saucepan gently cook the onion and mustard seeds in the butter. Add the milk and heat slowly.  Put a heaped tablespoon of cornflour into a jug with enough cold milk to make a paste. Once you have a good paste add the warm milk and mix well, then return the mixture to the saucepan. Continue to cook gently, stirring frequently until thickened.
Next, arrange the turkey in the base of an ovenproof dish. Cook the leeks in a small amount of water for about 3 minutes and then add to the dish.
Cover with the white sauce and leave to cool  (otherwise the pastry will shrink).

Putting it all together
Preheat the oven to 200^oC.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to approximately 1/4 inch thick. Put the dish with the filling next to the pastry and gently lift the pastry onto it by folding it back over the rolling pin. When the pastry is loosely covering the filling,  take a fork and push the pastry against the side of the dish all the way round. Then, either take a knife and trim the excess pastry off, or fold the edges back in on themselves for a more ‘rustic’ look (I tend to do this when the pastry is difficult to deal with and it looks a bit scruffy – pretend that it’s meant to be that way!). Pierce the pastry a couple of times with a fork and brush with egg. Grind some salt over the top.

Bake in the centre of the oven for approximately 1/2 hour, until the pastry is golden.

Any extra pastry can be used to decorate the pie or, if there is enough, to make jam tarts.