ies have long been part of the rhythm of using up cooked meat and heaps of ripening fruit, but nowadays we tend to think of them as difficult to make. It’s just not true, especially if you use bought pastry. This is leftovers, after all, the kind of cooking that is meant to be as relaxed and effortless as possible. Keep a packet of good frozen pastry in the freezer – the ones that use real butter rather than transfats and hydrogenated oils – and you just have to remember to defrost it a few hours before you actually need it. The rest is a satisfying doddle: decide on the shape you want, make a filling with a little juicy sauce and close it all up. Once a pie is brushed with egg yolk and baked, it always looks beautiful, resonating with domestic competence.

omewhere between pastry and bread, pizza dough is simple stuff to make too. There’s no reason to be frightened of yeast, which comes in packets and just gets on with the job once activated with liquid and warmth. If you have one, use a breadmaking machine, or you could buy pizza bases (but they tend to be chemical-rich) or use a baguette as your base. Whichever you go for, pizzas are the ultimate convenience food, and very hands-on. Let everyone choose what they want on theirs from an array of leftovers or vegetables that have to be used up fast.

This chapter is stuffed with ideas for using different kinds of pastry in different shapes with endless variable fillings.  There are ideas for filo pies, quiches, baguette pizzas and puddings, too.

Traditionally made with apples, but you can use pears just as well. I make the tart in a 20–22cm ovenproof frying pan. Use 400g puff pastry, 10–12 small, sharp dessert apples or pears (peeled, cored and sliced), 85g caster sugar and 55g butter.

Very gently melt the sugar in the frying pan so it turns into a caramel, making absolutely sure that it does not burn. Dot the caramel with the butter and then layer the fruit neatly in the pan, packing it in tightly and filling up any holes and spaces with bits of cut fruit. Cover with a circle of pastry rolled out to about 5mm thick, tucking the edges into the pan. Bake at 200°C/Gas Mark 6 for 20 minutes, until the pastry is puffed up and golden. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then put a plate over the top of the pan and invert the whole lot so that the tart slips out on to the plate. Spoon off any excess juice and serve at room temperature.