MAMMA LALLA: On behalf of Mamma Lalla

Hello, it's Mamma Lalla's daughter here.

Unfortunately Mamma Lalla is unable to post at the moment because she has had to go in for a knee operation yesterday. After weeks of pain, they decided to operate and see what was going on with her knee. Unfortunately the doctor has said that she will also need a knee replacement soon, but for now she is recovering in hospital from this first operation.

I thought in the meantime I could share with you some of the delicious things that we did and made over the holidays while Mamma Lalla (or "Ma" as I call her in Afrikaans) visited me here in the UK. We had such a lovely time, and even managed a visit to the Jamie Oliver Restaurant in Oxford called Jamie's Italian. It's a very laid back restaurant, but the food is absolutely delicious! My husband and I had the lasagna, and Ma had the divine Ravioli Caramelle. But the eating certainly didn't stop there. My husband made a delicious roast turkey dinner on the day Ma arrived, I showed Ma how to make Marshmallows, and Ma in turn taught me how to make a good pastry for a Turkey and Gammon pie.

Here I am stirring up the filling for the recipe.

And as you can see, the pastry turned out lovely! Ma treated me to this ceramic pie bird (it lets the steam out the pie so that the pastry doesn't go soggy.

The recipe for this leftover Gammon and Turkey Pie is based on the recipe from the Hairy Bakers show. Only we didn't do the cranberry topping (because we ate all the cranberries), decided to have it warm and we also had no celery. But this recipe will work wonderful with any leftover white meats such as chicken and pork. Or maybe even game birds such as pheasant? Well, I loved it, so why not try it yourself. Here is our adapted recipe.

Turkey, Gammon and Leek Pie

Ingredients

For the pastry

450g/1lb plain flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

60g/2½oz cold butter, chopped

60g/2½oz cold lard, chopped

140ml/5fl oz cold water

For the filling

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 onion, chopped

1 leek, chopped

1 tbsp flour

100ml/3½fl oz hot chicken

tbsp double cream

½ tsp English mustard powder/ Dijon mustard

handful fresh curly parsley

200g/12oz cooked gammon, roughly chopped

350-450g/1lb 2oz cooked turkey, dark and light meat, cut into large pieces

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. For the pastry, blend the flour, baking powder, salt, butter and lard in a food processor until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2. Gradually add the water in a thin stream and continue to blend until the mixture starts to come together as a dough.

3. Divide the dough into two, and shape into discs. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.

4. To cook the pastry, preheat the oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3. Grease a pie dish with butter.

5. Turn the one pastry disc out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out until it is big enough to fit into the pie dish, with some extra to go over the sides.

10. rush some water onto the edges of the pie dish, then line the pie dish with the pastry and press down until the pastry case is the same shape as the dish. Cover the pastry with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes.

11. Remove the baking beans and greaseproof paper and trim the edges of the pastry. Set the pastry case aside to cool.

12. For the filling, heat the olive oil and butter in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion and leek and fry for 4-5 minutes, or until softened.

13. Add the flour and stock and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and simmer the mixture for 4-5 minutes, or until the stock has thickened.

14. Add the cream and simmer for 2-3 minutes, or until warmed through, then add the mustard and parsley and stir until well combined.

15. Add the gammon and turkey pieces and stir until well combined. Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

16. Spoon the filling into the pastry case.

17. Roll out the second pastry disc big enough to cover the pie with a pastry lid. Brush the edges of the pastry case with some beaten eggs. Place the pie lid over the top and press the edges down over the sides (you can use a fork if you like). Trim away any excess pastry and pierce the lid to allow steam to escape.

17. Transfer to the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve warm.

Marshmallows

And now for something sweet. Marshmallows are quite easy to make, although you do need a mixer to do the beating, because the mixture needs to be beaten for 12 minutes on high speed.

A candy thermometer is also a big help when boiling the sugar. We used the Martha Stewart recipe which you can access by clicking here.

If you can't find corn syrup (I haven't been able to find any yet in the UK), substitute the corn syrup with either honey, or sugar and a pinch of cream of tartar. It's used to stop the sugar from re-crystallising.