Save time and money – Part 3

Here's a “flexible” family sized recipe for Gammon, Chicken & Leek pie. The beauty of it is 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 – something for everyone I think you'll agree!

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 - 6 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. Remove the gammon and chicken and 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 option 2 – definitely not as healthy, more indulgent!

Option 2 – not as healthy, more indulgent

This is a luxury version, perfect for a supper with friends.

Replace the soup with a Velouté sauce. A Velouté sauce is one of the “Mother Sauces” - a light white sauce made with chicken or fish stock and a roux – it is also used as a base for other sauces, for example, a Sauce Supreme, known as a “Daughter Sauce” using Velouté and then enriched with cream.

Here's the Sauce Supreme recipe :

half a pint (300ml) of cold stock

15g unsalted butter

15g plain flour

½ tsp Dijon mustard

200ml double cream

salt and black pepper

Melt the butter, take the pan off the heat, add the flour and whisk. Return to the heat and cook out the flour for 2/3 mins, stirring continuously – do not walk away.

Then tip your cold stock straight into the roux and whisk until smooth, then cook on a low heat for 20 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the mustard and cream and simmer for 5 minutes.

Fold your gammon, chicken and leeks into the sauce.

Top your sliced potatoes with seasoning and 2/3 knobs of butter, finish with a mixture of grated Red Leicester and mature Cheddar cheese. Bake as before.

Option 3 – somewhere in between

Omit the potato, butter and cheese topping and replace with a puff pastry lid. This option can also apply to Options 1 or 2. Bake as before. You could “hit the middle” and make Option 1 enriching the tinned soup by adding double cream. The world is your pie!

For those sceptics among us who think that a slow-cooker is only capable of producing stews and casseroles I hope you might be persuaded otherwise.

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 …

Fast food suppers – then there's gammon!

If you don't fancy slow cooking a whole chicken or would like another idea – slow cook a gammon joint, smoked or not - to your own taste.

I always slow cook gammon in vegetable stock. Seal your joint – carefully in a drop of rapeseed oil and transfer to your slow cooker. Bring your stock to the boil and then pour over the gammon. You'll need enough stock to cover two thirds of the gammon. As a guide a 1.6kg/3lb 8oz joint – boneless and rolled – slow cooked for four hours will give you 6-8 portions, you can cook it for longer if you want to achieve “pulled pork”.

Gammon is perfect for the slow cooker and it's versatile. Use as an alternative to go with Squeak, Champ or Colcannon. Beetroot would make a great side – relish or roasted – check out the Beetroot label for recipes.

Leftovers or deliberates – the same applies as with any meat or poultry buy as large a joint or bird as you can afford. You don't have to rush to transform the gammon (or anything else you're slow cooking for that matter) if you're pushed for time then, as an example, freeze your leftover gammon – in lumps. If you slice the gammon and then freeze it will dry out. Defrost in the fridge then slice or cube to suit. If you have a large lump then cut in half – wrap, bag and freeze. Oh and don't forget the stock too.

If you've been following the multitasking principles, lets take a moment and review the contents of your freezer to date. You've cooked a roast – whilst you were at it you've filled your oven with fish and potatoes and used your slow cooker. You've slow cooked a chicken and have bags of meat – probably mixed – anise stock and vegetable stock ready for sauces and/or soups and/or a joint of gammon too.

Don't forget to shop smart – check out the deals.

You've made the most of your time, saved money on your electricity/gas bill, saved money on your grocery bill and your freezer is snug with real food – ready to complete your own “ready” meals. If you play your cards right and cook this way, you'll have at least one week each month where all you need to do is pull ready cooked food from your freezer.

More treasure …