Talking about daft instructions in recipes, I've just scaled a recipe down from one that says "serves six to eight" as there are only two of us. The instruction, one that's oft seen, was "season to taste." Whose taste, especially were I cooking it for six to eight!

As it happens, it was really good. I got it from Jocelyn Dimbleby in an article about how to use up leftover turkey. I changed it quite a lot, (a) because I had spare stuffing and bacon (can be left out, though I'd always add the bacon meself), (b) because I will not be lacing my cooking with nutmeg or ground cinnamon any time soon, both flavours that I can live without.

For two or three people, you need about 12oz leftover turkey meat (with a bit of stuffing if you have any left). No skin or bone, and chop it up quite finely, but not minced.

Get a heavy pot and make a soffritto with chopped bacon (or not), onion, celery and carrot, fried gently in olive oil for half an hour. When it's all nice and soft, turn the heat off and throw in most of a tin of unsalted plum tomatoes without the juice. Or use fresh ones that you've skinned. Throw in the meat, a goodly dose of dried oregano and a good pinch of salt. Mix everything up and put into the bottom of a shallow ovenproof dish. No more liquid!

Now the topping. You need an equal mixture of peeled potatoes and peeled sweet potatoes. Judge the amount according to how hungry you think you may be. Cut them up and boil or steam them until they are soft. Add two big tablespoons of creme fraiche and about 2oz of strong cheddar cheese, grated. "Season to taste" (heheh). Mash it all up and use it to top the turkey mix. Grate a bit more cheese on top and dot it all over with little nibs of butter.

I did this hours in advance and it didn't suffer, a very handy thing to be able to do. It goes into an oven at 180C fan, (350F, sez Siri) and it needs about 35 or 40 minutes-ish. We had it with green beans, but any simple veg, or a salad, would be good. It was delicious, comfort food par excellence, and a really good extra string to the bow for using leftovers. I reckon we'll be doing it with chicken as the year rolls on.