Recipe | Leftovers Christmas Pie

Serves 4

200g butter
300g stoneground unbleached white flour
500ml whole milk
200g cheddar cheese (or any leftover Christmas cheese), grated
½ nutmeg, grated
300g brussels sprouts, sliced (or any leftover veg)
200g leftover ham, shredded (or use bacon lardons)
300g leftover turkey 500g rough puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6. In a saucepan, melt the butter over a low–medium heat. Once melted, add the flour, beating it into the butter to make a paste. Gradually add the milk, whisking as you go, to make a silky white sauce.

2 Add the grated cheese to the sauce, along with the nutmeg and stir until melted. Then add the veg, ham and turkey, plus a good pinch of salt and pepper.

3 Pour the filling into a pie dish leaving room at the top for the lid.

4 Dust a work surface with flour and roll out the pastry to 1cm thick. Lay it over the top of the pie dish, then fork the edges down to seal. Add a couple of steam holes and use a pastry brush to brush the top with beaten egg for a golden finish once cooked.

5 Bake the pie for 25–30 mins, or until golden brown

Taken from Pipers Farm: The Sustainable Meat Cookbook: Recipes & Wisdom for Considered Carnivores by Abby Allen & Rachel Lovell (Kyle Books). Photography: Matt Austin

More festive food…

More from our December issue…

Recipe | Mince Pie and Pear Strudel

Baklava meets mince pie. Yum! It’s all down to the filo pastry and brushing each
layer with plenty of melted butter as you go (we never said this was a health dish)

Serves 6-8

100g unsalted butter
Zest of one orange (or 2-3 clementines), plus extra for garnish
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1 tbsp dark brown sugar
4 sheets of filo pastry
4 tbsp toasted, chopped hazelnuts
400g mincemeat
1 large pear, stalk removed, grated
1 tbsp demerara sugar

To garnish:
Curls of orange or clementine zest
Extra nuts and/or icing sugar

1 Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6. Over a low-medium heat, melt the butter in a pan, with the zest, cinnamon, mixed spice and sugar.

2 Line a baking sheet with baking paper and lay out the first sheet of filo. Brush with the butter mixture and sprinkle over a tablespoon of the hazelnuts. Place the next sheet on top and repeat the process until all four sheets have been coated. Keep the remaining butter to brush the top.

3 Lay the filo so that the sheets are landscape, then add a column of mincemeat down the centre and top with the grated pear. Bring one side of the pastry over and fold around the filling, then repeat with the other side.

4 You may need to turn the strudel so that it fits lengthwise on the tray. Brush the top with the remaining butter and sprinkle with the demerara sugar. Bake for 25 – 30 mins, or until the pastry is golden brown.

5 Remove and allow to cool on a rack, or serve warm. Garnish with orange zest, extra nuts and a light dusting of icing sugar.

This delicious dessert is just one of the puds in our feature The Proof is in the Pudding, from our December issue (in shops now). It also includes recipes for Chocolate Orange Cheesecake, Pavlova with Christmas-Spiced Pears & Pistachios and Winterberry Prosecco Trifle. All excellent alternatives to a traditional Christmas Pud!

More Christmas bakes and makes…

More from our December issue…

Make | Retro Glitter Decorations

Getting together with friends to make something beautiful and useful – what’s not to like!

You will need:
Air-drying clay
Rolling pin
Festive cutters
Skewer
PVA glue and spreader
Biodegradable glitter
Twine

1 Roll out your air-dried clay to around 3mm thick. Use your cutters to cut out different shapes, remembering to use the skewer to make a small hole near the top for string.

2 Transfer the decorations to a tray and leave to harden for 24-72 hours.

3 Once dry, spread one side with glue and dip into bowls of glitter. Shake off the excess.When the glue and glitter are dry (after about an hour), thread with twine to hang from the tree.

Maker’s note: These will last for many Christmases if stored correctly. Layer with greaseproof paper in an airtight container and keep flat.

This idea is just one of the makes and bakes from our Advent feature, Christmas is Coming by Lottie Storey, with photography by Kym Grimshaw.

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Recipe | Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate

A hot drink when it’s cold outside is one of life’s simple pleasures. Classic Christmassy confectionery adds a festive feel. (It’s not Terry’s; it’s ours)

Serves 2

100g orange chocolate, such as Terry’s Chocolate Orange
30g dark chocolate
1 orange
400ml whole milk
100ml single cream
Pinch of salt

1 Finely chop both types of chocolate using a sharp knife.

2 Using a peeler, remove a 10cm piece of peel from the orange.

3 Combine the chocolate, peel, milk, cream and salt in a pan and place over a low heat. While the chocolate slowly melts, stir well with a wooden spoon.

4 Once melted, pour into two mugs and serve immediately, or transfer to a flask for outdoor adventuring.

This warming festive drink is just one of the recipes and ideas from our feature, Christmas is Coming from the December issue. It also includes popcorn garlands, gingerbread snowflake biscuits, retro glitter decorations, Night Before Christmas cocktails and lots more things to make and do during advent.

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More from our December issue…

Wellbeing | How to feel more 'Christmassy'

Contrary to what the TV ads would have you believe, we don’t all turn into tinselled elves on 1st December, decking the halls and fa-la-la-la-la-ing with gusto. Christmasiness is not obligatory at all. But, if you feel as though you would like to embrace the season a little more but just aren’t feeling it yet, we’ve come up with a few ideas to help you feel more Christmassy instantly (or Christmantly, we suppose). Some take only a few seconds, others will require a couple of hours, but all will help you up the festive feeling if that’s your heart’s desire.  

As always, no pressure at all. Here at The Simple Things we believe in ‘could-do lists’ rather than ‘to-do lists’ so pick and choose as many as you fancy, make up your own, or simply read, smile inwardly and continue to Bah, Humbug to your heart’s content. We’re not here to judge. 

1. Shake a snow globe and imagine living inside it. 

2. Go to a Christmas tree farm, and enjoy the scent of Blue Spruce, even if you’re not buying a tree yet. 

3. Sit down with a glass of Sherry and write a Proper Letter in a Christmas card to a friend you’ve not seen this year.

4. Dig out the ubiquitous Christmassy candle someone will have given you last year and sit quietly with it burning in the dark.

5. Buy some pretty paper chains and string them together. 

6. Listen to the opening bars of Once in Royal David’s City and well up a bit at the lovely choir boy’s singing. 

7. Open the jar of cinnamon sticks in your spice cupboard and inhale deeply (not recommended with cinnamon powder!)

8. Visit a church in Advent, even if it’s just for a contemplative look round rather than a service. 

9. Seek out some carols in the open air (National Trust properties usually have some).

10. Make gingerbread biscuits.

11. Watch a black and white Christmas film (or Terminator if you’re not a purist).

12. Open the Quality Street tin early.

13. Have Christmas canapes for dinner one Friday night. Pass the brie and cranberry vol-au-vents and pigs in blankets, please!

14. Read a Christmassy book at bedtimes. A Child’s Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas and The Christmas Chronicles by Nigel Slater are just two of our favourites. 

15. Put up some fairy lights. If it feels too early to go the whole hog dec-wise, just drape some plain white fairy lights along a shelf or mantelpiece. 

16. Bake some proper mince pies. So much nicer than shop bought even if they are a bit fally-aparty. 

17. Roast chestnuts. Or, if that feels like too much effort, buy a tub of pistachios and retreat to the sofa for the evening with a film.

18. Visit a deer park and wonder about which deer are the magic ones… 

19. Do some ‘Nice’ Christmas Shopping. Not a mad dash around town. Just one or two trusted and lovely shops for a couple of thoughtful gifts for favourite people, a walk back past some Christmas lights with a silly Christmassy coffee (the only time when egg nog flavouring is acceptable) and then home to wrap your gifts carefully. Yes, of course with proper ribbon and handwritten gift tags. 

20. Have a roaring fire with one of your mince pies and more of that sherry. If you don’t have a fire in your home, find a pub with one and have one of their mince pies and sherry. 

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More things to make you feel Christmassy…

More from our December issue…

Make | Festive Things on Strings

The best decorations are the ones you make sitting round the table over mince pies and hot chocolates with carols on in the background. Here are a few things you can fling on strings and then hang about the house looking pleasingly cheerful yet rustic…

1. Popcorn. It’s our go-to garland string item. Fun to make, delicious to eat as you decorate, and it looks so pretty wrapped around the tree, too. (For most effective results, hang the popcorn garlands in a spiral going from the top to the bottom of the tree, widening with each circuit as you go). You can find out exactly how to make popcorn garlands on page 11 of the December issue of The Simple Things. 

2. Cranberries. Plump, deep pink and so Christmassy, cranberries look stunning threaded onto cotton. For more natural garland inspiration, turn to our home tour in the December issue and read about Christmas Crafting Queen Holly Grundy’s Norfolk home. 

3. Dried orange slices. Dried in a dehydrator or a very low oven, slices of orange look like tiny stained glass window when threaded onto cotton and hung in the light. They smell absolutely delicious, too. 

4. Dried apple slices. If you core the apple before slicing you’ll have rings which look charming with lengths of ribbon threaded through the holes. Try tying a cinnamon stick in for every few apple slices you thread for a more textured and even more fragrant look. 

5. Bay leaves. For a simple, evergreen look, strings of bay leaves look wonderful. You probably need a bay tree to pull this off or you’ll need to invest in an awful lot of Schwartz jars. 

6. Chillis. Festive and fiesta-ish, fiery chillies look fun strung up in the kitchen. 

7. Pretzels and monkey nuts. This is a fun one as an edible decoration for a pre-Christmas drinks gathering. Be prepared to clear up lots of crumbs. 

8. Wine bottle corks. Start saving them up and simply thread onto cotton with a needle. Whether you’ll look like a lush or just like you know how to throw a great party, we wouldn’t like to comment.

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Photography by Rebecca Lewis

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Playlist | A Christmas mood

DJ: Frances Ambler
Image: Shutterstock

Want to listen to something to get you in the Christmas mood? You find our playlist on Spotify here.

We’ve plenty more actually good Christmas playlists. Take a listen here, here and here.