Saturday, 25 September 2021

I have a plan … liberation!

I find slow-cooking liberating – not a word that immediately springs to mind where cooking is concerned – there'll be no bra burning!

It might sound a touch dramatic but to illustrate how much time, effort and money you'll save I give you, the gammon, chicken and leek pie. There are three options here from the same recipe. The first is a healthy version, the second is not and the third is somewhere in between.

I will concede that you'll have to think about your shopping list but if you are now subscribing to “getting organised” you'll have jacket potatoes on your list ready to bake.

Here we go :


Option 1 – healthy


Gammon, Chicken and Leek pie


Serves 4 generous portions


You'll need a casserole or foil tray 23x23cms/9” square


Gammon joint – smoked or unsmoked to suit your taste – approx 500g

4 chicken breast fillets

2 stock pots – chicken or vegetable

4 medium leeks, topped, tailed and sliced thickly

Rapeseed oil – approx 1 tbsp

black pepper

2 tins (295g) of Campbell's condensed low fat chicken soup (this is now low salt, low fat and only 77 calories per serving)

3 large jacket potatoes, baked, cooled, then peeled and sliced

Salt and black pepper for potato topping


Seal your gammon joint and slow cook in the stock pots, repeat with the chicken fillet. If your slow cooker is big enough cook them all together. 4 hours is fine. Leave to cool.

Break up the gammon and the chicken into medium chunks and transfer for the moment into a large food bag and fridge. Reserve the stock and fridge.

Peel and slice your leeks, then soften in the rapeseed oil, set aside.

Tip the soup into a large mixing bowl. Next add a ladle of stock into the soup to loosen it, then fold in the gammon, chicken and leeks. Transfer the filling into your casserole or foil tray.

Place your sliced potato on top, season with a little salt and black pepper.

Pre-heat your oven and bake at 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 30-40 minutes – check after 30 - until the top is golden and crispy.


Then there's options 2 – definitely not as healthy and 3 – somewhere in between …



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