Leftovers pie

I had all this leftover meat from last week - some lamb, a bit of beef.  It was getting to the refrigerator-age where I didn't really want to eat it, but I knew it was still good.  I also had a miserable collection of vegetables - a crusty, banged-up old parsnip, a bunch of high-maintenance (tiny) shallots, and some celery.  I waste so much food week to week; I thought if I could do something about it this week, perhaps I could pay a bit of karmic debt.

So yesterday (between turns of my danish pastry dough which was complicated but unremarkable) I made a couple pie crusts in anticipation of tonight's dinner.  Stupidly, I put one in the freezer.  I guess I was thinking the meat pie I'd make would be so small I wouldn't need a double crust?  I don't know.  Realizing my mistake, I took the frozen dough out of the freezer and tried to defrost it in its plastic bag in warm water.  I rolled out the first crust while a quart of light chicken stock reduced to ~1c and the vegetables sauteed in butter.

I added some wine to the chicken stock and let that reduce too.  Maybe a glass and a half's worth.  After the veggies had been cooking a while, I added some of the chicken/wine liquid, then added some more once the first had evaporated.  I added the trimmed, chopped meat to the veggies, along with some chopped parsley and a touch of rosemary.  Remember those seasoned bread crumbs I mentioned last time?  Well, I added a handful to the bottom of the rolled-out pie crust before putting in the filling, then threw some more over the top and poured the remainder of the chicken/wine on.

Defrosting that pie crust didn't really work out - it was getting soft and melty on the outside before the inside was thawed.  So I had to make do with the abundant scraps from the bottom crust.  not too bad, eh?  A bit of tinfoil over the top while it's baking and the filling shouldn't even dry out too much.  We shall see.

Comments

[Nori]

"a crusty, banged-up old parsnip, a bunch of high-maintenance (tiny) shallots, and some celery" -- ain't that winter. I'm looking forward to English peas! Asparagus! Fava beans!

/me drools ...