Serves 6
Preparation time 20 minutes
Cooking time 35 minutes
50 g (2 oz) butter
40 g (1½ oz) plain flour
750 ml (1¼ pints) milk
1½ chicken stock cubes, crumbled
½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1½ tablespoons dry sherry
3 drops Tabasco sauce
375 g (12 oz) cooked turkey diced
175 g (6 oz) mushrooms, sliced
250 g (8 oz) carrots, cooked and sliced
250 g (8 oz) button onions, boiled
2 tablespoons chopped parsley
300 g (10 oz) ready-made puff pastry, defrosted if frozen
a little flour, for dusting
beaten egg, to glaze
salt
Melt the butter in a large saucepan, sprinkle in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Add the milk, a little at a time, stirring after each addition, then add the stock cubes and Worcestershire sauce and season with salt. Bring to the boil, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens. Stir in the sherry and Tabasco sauce. Add the turkey, mushrooms, carrots and onions and heat through gently but thoroughly. Stir through the chopped parsley, then turn the mixture into a 1.8 litre (3 pint) pie dish.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and cover the dish, fluting the pastry edges. Make a small hole in the centre to let the steam escape. Decorate with the trimmings. Bake in a preheated oven, 200°C (400°F), Gas Mark 6, for about 20 minutes until the pastry is beginning to brown.
Brush the pie top with beaten egg, then return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until the pastry is puffed up and brown.
For turkey, ham & almond pie, brown 25 g (1 oz) almonds in 40 g (1½ oz) butter. Stir in 25 g (1 oz) plain flour, remove from the heat and stir until blended. Add 150 ml (¼ pint) dry white wine and 300 ml (½ pint) chicken stock, bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 1–2 minutes. Season well, then stir in ½ teaspoon dried marjoram and 2 tablespoons soured cream. Turn into 1.8 litre (3 pint) pie dish. Mix in 375 g (12 oz) diced cooked turkey, 125 g (4 oz) diced ham and 125 g (4 oz) halved seedless grapes. Cover and bake as above.