The ‘Clean Out The Fridge Pie’ lamb recipe

This is part of a Cornersmith x Australian Farmers series showcasing Aussie grown foods. It’s a bit like a fork with three prongs. This is the recipe inspiration. The next prong is where you learn about making the most of leftover meat and how to store it and the third is meeting a sheep producer. We hope you enjoy the ride!

Hot tip: if you wrap anything in pastry and turn it into a pie, you can pretty much get away with anything! Kids, don’t think they like leftovers? Serve them this pie and they won’t even know. Dinner made. No waste. And it was lamb appreciation night once again!

You can buy or make pastry for a family-sized family pie, turn the mix into pasties or curry puffs, or top it with mashed potato and turn it into a shepherd’s or cottage pie. This pie mix is a very simple clean-out-the-fridge style recipe that could also use other leftover cooked meats.

Clean Out The Fridge Pie

• 1-2 cups left over lamb, cut into small pieces
• 1 packet of thawed pastry, filo or puff
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 cup cooked or tinned chickpeas, this could also be left over rice or barley or lentils
• 400 g can tomato, or this could be a cup of stock or wine
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic, minced
• 1 tbs ginger, grated
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Line pie dish with pastry (reserve enough for the top) and pre bake for 15 min.
2. Make the filling: Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium heat, then sauté onion until soft and sweet. Add garlic cloves, ginger, ground cumin and paprika. Sauté for another minute or so, then add leftover lamb and 1 cup chickpeas or lentils or grain if you are using. Add tomatoes and  lots of salt and pepper (or other liquid) and cook this down until the mixture thickens. Simmer for 2–3 minutes until the flavours come together. Allow to cool before filling the pie.
3. Add pastry to make the pie top and bake for 30-40 minutes.

Feeling inspired and enlightened?! Check out our leftover lamb/meat tips straight from the Cornersmith kitchen and meet Ellen Litchfield, a sheep producer from outback Australia. You can also check out our tips and tricks for saving money and doing your bit to reduce food waste with the other foods in this series: Bread, carrots, greens, oranges and cheese.