Leftovers Pie is a modern British recipe for a classic Victorian-inspired preserve of woodlice in lightly-spiced butter. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Leftovers Pie.
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This pie is a great way of converting roast dinner leftovers (particularly Christmas/Thanksgiving/Easter) into a pie that you can serve as a no-waste meal. This is a rustic style pie topped with rough-puff pastry. I think for a savoury pie it's good to use lemon juice in the pastry, so when you bring the pastry together, use 1 tsp lemon juice and then add water as needed. This recipe is intended to be made with white meat either poultry/fowl or pork.
Whilst the pastry undergoing its final chilling the the refrigerator, prepare the filling.
To make the filling, melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Once the butter is bubbling, use to fry the onion for a few minutes until soft and translucent.
Sprinkle over the flour and mix well to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes, so the flour is no longer raw. Gradually work in the stock then bring to a simmer and cook until until the sauce thickens slightly. Now work in the mustard and cream, stirring to combine. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of stock or water.
Take the sauce off the heat, add the leftover meat and vegetables and stir to combine. Season to taste with salt and black pepper, then set aside to cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C Fan/Gas 6. Take the pastry from the refrigerator and cut off about a third of the pastry to use as the lid.
Roll out the larger piece of pastry to about 5mm thick on a lightly floured surface and cut out a circle (or oval or rectangle) that fits into a 1 litre capacity pie dish (about 25cm diameter).
Line the pie dish with the pastry and fill with the pie mixture. Brush the pastry edges with the beaten egg.
Roll out the remaining pastry to make a lid and lay over the filling, crimping the edges with your fingers (or with the tines of a fork) to seal. Trim away any excess pastry. Brush the top all over with the egg wash and set aside in the fridge for 10 minutes (or even overnight) to firm up.
Cut a couple of steam holes in the tom, then transfer to the centre of your pre-heated oven and bake for 35–45 minutes. When the pastry is golden-brown and crisp all over, remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then cut into wedges and serve.