Leftovers pie

I had a friend from Luxembourg drop in on Sunday and I decided to cook a roast chicken dinner.  It was a pretty traditional thing with a lovely free range chicken and a mixture of roast vegetables.  I decided not to stuff the bird with my seasoning so I just put an onion in the cavity and let the juices blend with those of the onion, cooking the stuffing in a separate dish

In the same dish I put a couple of chipolata sausages and potatoes, pumpkin, courgette(zucchini), onion and carrots to roast, then popped the whole lot into a medium hot oven (180C) for about an hour

I also served a selection of nibbles as aperitifs and then a delicious pork pate de campagne with homemade multicereal bread made with a few nuts added. We followed the main course with a lovely selection of French cheeses, except, purely selfishly, I added a good English farmhouse cheddar. My guest brought dessert!  A glorious apple pie with an extravagant flaky pastry top and delicious shortcrust base.  The pie stands about 150mm (6") tall!! and we ate it without adding anything. 

Of course, there was quite a bit left over, particularly from the chicken and vegetables, so tonight I made a recipe I learned about from a relation just the other day.  Leftovers Pie.  I really wasn't sure about it but thought it was worth a try.  It turned out to be delicious

In a pie dish I spread out all the left over meat and vegetables, cutting everything into bite sized pieces.  I included all the leftovers, potatoes, roast vegetables, a few peas I had added to the dinner, the chicken and even one of the chipolatas and the left over stuffing until the dish was almost full.

Then I poured over the left over gravy and covered the dish with a puff pastry top.  As I always do, I used a ready made puff pastry.  I love making shortcrust pastry but have never managed to successfully make puff pastry and with such great ready mades available, I gave up trying many years ago.  The other thing about recipes for leftovers is, I believe, they should be extremely simple.  You've already cooked the meal so the ready made pastry makes it very simple and quick.

I popped the pie into a preheated oven at 190C and left it to cook for about an hour. 

The picture has been cropped so that you can't see just how much of the pie got eaten!!!

Vegetable Soup

I usually buy all my fruit and vegetables at the market on a Saturday morning.  Mostly I buy from a local producer or I buy from Laurent, a greengrocer who buys off small local farmers to save them having to invest the time in attending market with maybe one product.   He also brings in things from Spain, like oranges and strawberries and very occasionally from further afield.... By buying like this, I get to pick the freshest produce available each week.   Don't forget, of course, that the Spanish border is nearer to me than Paris.

Some weeks, I find that my plans have changed and I have a wide selection of vegetables left over when Saturday morning comes round again.

Since I moved to France nearly 5 years ago I have developed my own "Potage" which solves this problem perfectly.  "Potage" is the name given to a soup made from vegetables grown in the "Potager" or vegetable garden.

I make the soup in a slow cooker which allows all the tastes to develop and blend.

The problem of left over vegetables occured last week and by yesterday I had a lot left.... So, I made the soup today, using....cauliflower, celery, celeriac, pumpkin, onion, carrot, Swiss chard, courgette, lemon, fennel seeds, sunflower seeds......

I think that was all...  I added a big dose of herbes de provence , a good teaspoonful of Marmite (yeast extract) and about 500ml (US Pint) of salted water and the same of a light lager type beer.   It then cooked for about 7 hours on the high setting, with just an occasional stir....

Today, I also went through the fridge and emptied all the odd sauce bottle ends into the pot.... but I didn't put any garlic in as I was running low...  That is the beauty of this soup....anything that you have goes in and if you don't have it, it doesn't matter.

At the end of cooking I assess what the soup looks like and what I feel like.....  sometimes I will blend the whole lot down to produce a rich thick soup....others I will serve it as it is, with juicy bits of vegetables in a glorious liquid stock.  Then, I will serve what I need and pot the rest, ready to cool and freeze.

However, a word of warning to those of you who are used to following recipes.....   This way of cooking, simply using what is available and, perhaps, even including things because they "need using up", can produce some truly superb results.   Your family may well ravenously finish the pot and demand you make it again very soon.... And there, my friends, is the problem....because of the very nature of the way the ingredients are chosen, you will never make another one which is exactly the same!

Frittata

This is a frittata made with Courgette(Zucchini), Pumpkin, Celeriac and Feta cheese

I made it the other day, guided by a recipe I had not tried before, but adapting the ingredients to use up some leftover vegetables.

I used a metal frying pan that I could put under the grill at the end.

Ingredients:

300gms (12ozs) of pumpkin cut into 1 cm cubes
100gms (4ozs)of pumpkin grated
200gms (8 ozs)celeriac grated
200ml (1 cup) Apple Juice
3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely sliced
1 green courgette cut into 1cm cubes
2 salad onions sliced
4 eggs
200ml (1 cup) liquid cream
200gms (8ozs) feta cheese, crumbled
1/4cup chopped fresh basil leaves 
3 tbs olive oil to fry

Method:

Turn the grill on high. Heat the oil in a large 25cms(10"~) frying pan, over a high heat.
Add the garlic and onion and cook until you can smell the garlic/onion mix. 
Add the pumpkin cubes and cook for 3 or 4 minutes, then add the grated pumpkin and celeriac.
Add the Apple Juice and bring to the boil and cook for a further 3 or 4 minutes.
Add the courgette(zucchini) and then carry on cooking on high heat until the liquid has gone again. 

Whilst this is happening beat the cream and four eggs together and then add the crumbled feta and chopped basil leaves and stir it all together.  Once the liquid has gone, turn the heat down and evenly distribute this mixture in the pan.  Cook for a few minutes(6 or 7) until the edges are just set but the middle is still quite runny.

Remove pan from heat and place under grill for about 5 minutes. The frittata should be set and lightly grilled on the top.

Serve immediately accompanied by fresh salad leaves.

I opened a young Bergerac Red to drink with this meal and it went very well, the lightness of the young wine nicely complementing the lightness of the omelette.