How to make a Christmas pie with your festive leftovers

After the main event on 25 December, here is something easy and comforting to turn to

Waste not, want not: pour everything into your pie

Christmas leftovers are inevitable and there’s probably only so much turkey curry one person can eat in the week after Christmas.

You can turn your meat and veg into a delicious and hearty pie, without wasting any of those leftovers.

This recipe, from award-winning Jarvis Pickle piemakers, is essentially an “everything in” and suits any meat – from turkey to goose. The pie is perfectly complemented by leftover sprouts and chestnuts, and the dish even uses up any cranberry sauce still sticking around.

Jarvis Pickle handcraft each of their pies in their kitchen, based in the Scottish Borders, using homemade pastry. They are packed full of delicious locally sourced ingredients including Mungoswells flour, which is grown and milled on a farm in East Lothian.

Christmas pie with sprouts, turkey, chestnuts and cranberry sauce

Time: 1hr 45mins

Serves four as one pie (in an 8cm deep round dish), or divide into four or eight for individual pies

For the pastry

350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
140g salted butter, cubed
½​ tsp salt
150ml water
1 egg, lightly beaten for glazing
Vegetable or rapeseed oil

For the filling

10g butter
120g bacon, chopped into slices
20g chestnuts, sliced
100ml double cream
80ml chicken stock
220g cooked and shredded chicken, turkey, pheasant or goose
120g cooked and quartered brussels sprouts
80g cranberry sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 190°C or gas mark 5. On a medium heat, and using a medium-sized saucepan, heat the water, salt and butter together until the latter is melted. Stir continually with a wooden spoon. You don’t want it to boil, just melt the butter.

Pour the butter and water into a large mixing bowl with flour. Mix and knead it together until the pastry is firm to t he touch. When the pastry is formed, wrap it in cling film and set it aside to rest.

Fry the butter and sliced bacon in a medium-sized saucepan on a medium heat. When the bacon is cooked, add the sliced chestnuts, cooked chicken (or your preferred meat), quartered sprouts, chicken stock and double cream. Reduce to a stew-like consistency and add salt and pepper to taste. Decant into a storage dish and put in the fridge for 15 minutes.

Finely coat pie tin(s) using vegetable or rapeseed oil to prevent sticking. Dust clean the surface with flour and roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3-4mm. Cut to size and line the tin(s) with pastry using your thumbs to the insure mould is set. Allow the pastry to overlap the tin’s rim by 0.5cm, and place in the fridge for 5 minutes.

Take the filling and tin(s) out of the fridge. Fill the pie case(s) almost to the brim then add the cranberry sauce on top.

Beat the egg with a whisk or fork in a small bowl. Dust clean the surface with flour and roll out the pastry to cut lid(s) to size. Egg wash the rim of the pie(s) and place the lid(s) on top. Use your first finger and thumb to crimp the pie(s), then egg wash the top of the pie(s) for glaze.

Punch three to five chopstick-sized holes in the top of the pie(s). Bake in a preheated oven for 50-60 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Serve with mash, vegetables or whatever you want!

Recipe from Jarvis Pickle (jarvispickle.com). The Christmas pies (alongside their usual offerings) are available to order online and to buy in shops throughout December.