Turkey pot pie
Pot pies were made for leftovers
My mom bought an 18lbs turkey for Thanksgiving. There were only 3 adults and 2 tiny kids eating it. So we had a lot of leftovers. We ate turkey buns like champs for a few days, but then the rest went in the freezer. Which brings us to today. I don’t even know what made me think of it (probably that I was trying to make a meal with what we had in the house - a lot of freezer and pantry items), but I turned this turkey into a killer pot pie. I’m not a pot pie kinda gal, but tonight’s meal turned out so good I might change my tune.
Tonight’s takes:
Husband: “Really good. Needed more gravy or the gravy was too thick.”
Helen (5 1/2 years old): “Really good. Delicious. Next time can you use chicken because I don’t like turkey.”
Hector (3 years old): “Pretty good.”
The bird:
What I used:
Approx 3-4 cups leftover turkey, light and dark meat
12 yellow nugget potatoes
2 cups frozen vegetables
2 cups vegetable stock
1 tsp thyme
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup flour
Pastry:
1 cup flour
1/4 frozen butter
1/4 bacon fat
2 tbsps cold water
What I did:
Looked up a few different recipes for pot pie on the internet. Smashed them together / winged it.
Turned the over on to 425°F
Chopped potatoes.
Prepped other ingredients:
Measured out veg.
Made stock - I use bouillon paste.
Mixed flour and butter together - aka beurre manié
Simmered potatoes in stock in sauté pan.
PK didn’t like the size of my potatoes so he took them out and chopped them smaller.
Made the pastry:
Grated the butter into the flour - I didn’t have any cold butter in the fridge, only butter in the freezer. Grating worked.
Added the bacon fat - I keep extra bacon fat in my fridge.
Rubbed flour and fats together until the dough resembled sand.
Added cold water and mixed the dough just until it came together.
Put it in the fridge to chill/relax.
Finished simmering potatoes - wanted them tender. This took about 20 minutes (but that’s because PK pulled them out and cut them smaller half-way through). If they had been small from the start, probably would have taken 10-15 minutes.
Added thyme.
Stirred in flour + butter paste (beurre manié). The stock thickened up right away.
Turned the heat off.
Added the vegetables and turkey. Both were still pretty frozen. I’d just taken them out of the freezer when I started cooking the meal.
Stirred everything together.
Pulled the pastry out of the fridge. Rolled it out into a circle as large as the sauté pan. I put a bit of flour down on the counter first.
Using the rolling pin, laid it out over the turkey, veg, gravy mix.
Poked a few holes in the top so any steam could escape. I didn’t egg wash the top because I was in a rush.
Threw it in the oven. Baked for 40 minutes.
Done!
Next time:
This was yummy. I guess stew + gravy + pastry rarely disappoints. Next time I would add less flour + butter paste (beurre manié) - the gravy was too thick. And I’d maybe add a bit more stock or water to the mix once all of the ingredients were added (before the pastry went on top) if it still seemed like there wasn’t enough gravy. I would egg wash the top of the pastry, it definitely could have used a bit more colour. Other than that, it was pretty damn good.
😋😋
-Ellisa