Recipe Thursday
Oh, and is it ever an awesome one! Today I present: Turkey Pot Pie! Made completely from scratch and used whatever I had in my fridge! I’m excited, mostly because it turned out absolutely spiffing.
Turkey Pot Pie
Pie Dough
(I got this recipe while doing my Culinary Arts Certificate – one of our chefs was a pastry chef)
1 lb flour
3/4 lb mostly cold (but not completely hard) butter and/or shortening
5-8 oz cold water
1/2 tsp. salt
It is extremely important to weigh the ingredients for pie dough – do not guess or convert to cups! This is where I believe most people get bad/tough pie dough from! That and over-mixing.
– rub butter (shortening) into flour until pea size
– make a well in the middle of the pile, pour in 2/3 of water
– quickly toss, not mix, flour with water. The best way I can think of describing it is to push it together and pat it until it holds. If it feels like it won’t hold together well, slowly add more water and pat it together until it can hold a ball shape
– form into two balls and refrigerate 1 hour
– when ready to use, remove one ball, let it sit at room temperature for 20 minutes
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While that is fridging, make the turkey yumminess. Recipe continued after the filling recipe
Turkey Filling for Pie
3-4 cups turkey, cooked and chopped
1 onion, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
3 stems celery, finely diced
4-5 cups chicken or turkey stock
1-3 tbsp flour
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen corn
1 cup whipping cream
salt and pepper to taste (TT)
– toss turkey and turkey stock into large pot, simmer 10-15 minutes
– add in onion, carrot, and celery, simmer another 10 minutes
– in a small bowl, place 1 tbsp flour. Slowly add hot stock from the pot to the flour and mix well until liquidy and no lumps (whisks work well here). Add to pot and mix well. Bring to boil then reduce to simmer 5 minutes.
– if it doesn’t look like it’s thickened enough by this time, repeat flour process with remaining flour. Again, after 5 minutes, if it needs more thickening, add another tablespoon of flour. Do not add more after this.
– add in peas and corn. Stir well and heat through.
– add whipping cream and salt and pepper. Stir well, simmer 10 minutes
– taste and adjust seasonings. Remove from heat.
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Pie dough continued…
– split dough in half, roll out one half
– place rolled out half into a pie dish and mould to shape the dish
– fill pie plate with turkey, leaving a half inch space from the top of pie plate. Moisten the rim of the dough with some water
– roll out other half and place on top. Using a fork, press the dough at the rim of the pie plate together. Take a knife and trim excess dough from edge of pie plate.
– using a knife, make 4-6 slits in top of crust to let air vent
– place in 350F oven for 1 hour or until the top looks nice and crispy (but not necessarily brown)
– let stand 10 minutes, cut, plate, and enjoy!
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Notes: -one does not need to use whipping cream, but it sure tastes good!
– the butter gives a very rich crust; shortening either mixed with some butter or on its own works just as well.
– use whatever veggies you have on hand or that you like
– one fun use of excess dough is to make patters on the crust. With my second pie that I made (not photographed), I cut the letter ‘T’ out for turkey and pasted it on top (use a little water).
