Googie’s Kitchen presents Creamy ‘No Cream’ Ham and Leek Pie

My Nan and Dad were always great at using up leftovers. Nan would always make stews but Dad would always make a pie. We still had gammon left in our freezer from Christmas so I decided to eat it up.

So that left me to decide whether we were going to be eating a stew or a pie. I went with pie this time but don’t worry there is another stew and soup recipe coming later in the week. So stay tuned. Plus the pie was so yummy and well worth trying. Below is a video and recipe for you.

Do you like pie and if so what’s your favourite? Let me know in the comments below and please don’t forget to like and follow me.

Serves 4

Equipment

• Sharp knife
• Chopping board
• Vegetable peeler
• Nutribullet or blender
• Slow Cooker
• Tablespoon
• Teaspoon
• Large saucepan
• Colander
• Potato masher
• Baking dish

Ingredients

• Cooked Ham or uncooked pork x 500g
• Leek x 1
• Carrots x 2
• Yellow pepper x 1
• Butternut squash x 1 small
• Lemon thyme x 1 handful
• Dried mixed herbs x 1 tsp
• Oat milk
• Cashew nuts x 2 handfuls
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Nutritional yeast x 4 tbsps
• Potatoes x 800g
• Olive oil x 2 tbsps

Method

• Firstly peel and slice the carrots.
• Next cut the top from the pepper and remove the seeds.
• Now slice the pepper and put these into the slow cooker.
• Using the vegetable peeler, peel the skin from the butternut squash and cut into cubes.
• Remove the top from the leek and the tail too.
• Slice the leek as thinly as possible.
• Put both these vegetables into the slow cooker and set aside.
• In the nutribullet or blender add the oat milk, cashew nuts and nutritional yeast.
• Blend until all these ingredients are smooth.
• Once the ingredients have been blended together pour this over the vegetables in the slow cooker.
• If using uncooked ham or pork, add this into the slow cooker at this point.
• Sprinkle over the dried mixed herbs.
• Roughly tear up the lemon thyme in your hands and put into the slow cooker too.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Turn the slow cooker on high for 3 hours or low for 6.
• The sauce may start to thicken if you have used nutritional yeast and cashew nuts.
• Keep an eye on it and add extra milk if necessary.
• If using cooked ham or pork, thirty minutes or so before the end of the cooking time add it into the pot.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C or gas mark 4.
• Now peel and cut the potatoes into cubes.
• Put a large pan of water on a high heat and add a little salt to the water.
• Bring to the boil and put the potatoes into the boiling water.
• Boil the potatoes for 15 – 20 minutes.
• Drain through the colander and put the potato pieces back into the pan.
• Add the olive oil to the potatoes and mash until smooth.
• At this point, if you are using nutritional yeast to make the mash taste cheesy, you could add 1 – 2 tablespoons into the potatoes too.
• Plus don’t forget to add salt and pepper to your taste.
• Turn the slow cooker off and spoon out the ingredients into a baking dish.
• Spread the mash potato on top and put the dish into the oven for about 25 – 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, cut and boil the broccoli in the large pan.
• Once the pie is golden brown on top it’s cooked.
• Remove the pie and serve with the broccoli.

Slow Cooked Creamy ‘No Cheese’ Ham Leek and Potato Pie was a big success thankfully. My husband and son really enjoyed this meal. Both commented on how cheesy it tasted. I didn’t tell them until the end of dinner that the cheesy taste was ‘fake’ cheese. ‘Fake’ cheese is what my son and I now call nutritional yeast. It was a very easy meal to make and the result were delicious. Obviously if you are using cooked meat you have already frozen then you won’t be able to freeze any leftovers. But if you are using uncooked meat then it’s OK to freeze the leftovers. However you decide to eat this dish, as always, enjoy. Thank you xxx