Filo pies - Turkey and pepper, chick pea and pepper. National Pie week: day 7, pie #4

 Once again a veg dodger and a vegan version were required - so I made one fil pie with turkey mince, and the other with chickpeas.  Served with patatas (not very) bravas, and a lovely salad with avocado.  Delicious.

The trick with these meals is to make the bulk of it to be shared between the two versions, and then add the meaty / protein alternatives to the appropriate dish.

For this meal start with the pepper filling, the spinach and the turkey (or other) mince filling - then move on to the potatoes.  Return to complete the fillings, build the pies - bake, then construct the salad.

Onions
Olive oil
Garlic
Celery
Peppers (red, orange and/or yellow)
Paprika
Spinach
White wine

Mince (turkey, … or … )

Potatoes
Tinned tomatoes
Chilli

Filo pastry

Salad leaves
Tomatoes
Spring onions
Avocado
Mixed seeds
Garlic
lime juice

1.  Chop onions.   Gently fry about half in olive oil for the pepper mixture, about a quarter in olive oil for the turkey mix, and a quarter in olive oil for the (not very) bravas sauce.
2.  Add crushed garlic to all three pans, stir and continue to fry gently.
3.  Chop potatoes into 1cm cubes, toss in olive oil and a little salt, roast for 45 minutes or so.
4.  Add chopped celery and peppers to the pepper mix, with a pinch of paprika and salt.  Continue to fry until soft, adding white wine and water to allow to simmer gently.
5.  In a fourth pan wilt spinach in a little water.  Turn the heat off as soon as the spinach is wilted.
6.  Add the mince to the second pan of onions and fry until slightly browned,  keep moving in the pan.
7.  Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, salt and chilli flakes, and half a tin of water to the final batch of tomatoes and simmer to create the sauce for the potatoes.
8.  Build the pies - grease pie plates with a little olive oil - layer on three layers of filo, brushing with olive oil each layer - build the veggie one first.  On the bottom - half of the spinach, then peppers, then drained rinsed chickpeas.  Top with three layers of filo, each brushed with olive oil.  Tuck in the edges and drizzle the edge with olive oil.  Repeat with the meaty one - pastry, spinach, peppers, mince, pastry.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.
9.  Salad - add leaves, chopped tomatoes, chopped spring onions, scooped out sliced avocado and seeds.  Spritz with lime juice to prevent avocado oxidising.  Drizzle with a little olive oil.  Serve with a little extra dressing made from lime juice, crushed garlic and olive oil.
10.  Serve, scoff …. it was good.

Caribbean(ish) turkey, squash, sweet potato and peanut casserole

Diced turkey in the fridge, and some random vegetables... What do you do? Well, I did this... Chopped and sautéed one onion, garlic, one red pepper, one courgette, one peeled sweet potato and half a chiquito (or butternut, or other) squash.... After a few minutes add turkey, stirred until edges were a bit cooked. Added tin of chopped tomatoes, pint or so of chicken stock and good splash of hot sauce. Stuck in the oven for an hour while watching Saturday night film ... Before serving added chopped spring onions and some peanut gravy mix ... Could have been peanut butter and chili. Served with brown rice and natural yogurt. Victim liked it! Shed loads left for freezer.

Turkey and sweet potato chili with brown rice

Gently fry chopped onion and garlic, add pepper, chopped kholrabi and fry a little longer  Add chili mix (I often make my own but today was persuaded to use a mix - sod that in future!).  Fry again, add turkey in tiny peices and chopped runner beans and mushrooms.  Add a little water to make sure it does not stick.  Add drained black and kidney beans.  Simmer, then add a tin of tomatoes.  Add about half a pint of water. Cover simmer until done (about 40 minutes - but could be on, or stuck in an oven for much longer and not be ruined).  Serve with brown rice and natural yogurt.  A spritz of lime on serving zings it up a bit.  Victim enjoyed, and I am pleased to have got a low fat, high veg meal into us as we start our health kick.   Loads left for sticking in freezer - and taking to work for nuking.  Egg news:  3 today (my money's on Sophie, Clarissa and Rosemary)