Tis the season of turkey dinners…with that comes left over turkey! We had a lovely dinner, 8 dinner guests including our family of 5, and even with second servings we still ended up with leftovers! One whole side of the turkey breast untouched and a bit of dark meat mixed in with some gravy….yum:)
First off the turkey was delicious, we usually make the stuffing separately, so we just added fresh thyme inside the cavity,the white meat turned out a bit dry…but that’s what the gravy is for right?
I never shared a pot pie recipe on here before as I really don’t measure anything…I just make it 😉 Every time I make it, it turns out different, so I will just share how I made it:)
I cut the turkey breast into cubes, and I used the left over cut up turkey thigh in gravy, which added even more flavour to the sauce.
I peeled and cut 4 small potatoes and 1 large carrot, boiled in salted water just till they weren’t hard, don’t want to fully cook them, they will turn to mush.
I decided not to make a rue this time, instead I mixed 1/2 cup flour with broth in a 2 cup measuring cup, adding broth to the 2 cup mark, mixed in with a whisk.
I also didn’t add any celery or peas this time, instead I used swiss chard! For those of you that follow me on FB you may remember my garden was filled with rainbow swiss chard in the summer, and I chopped them up and froze them, so I used a bag of that.
First I sauteed two shallots in a mixture of butter and olive oil, with 1 heaping teaspoon of dried tarragon and 1 msg free chicken flavoured cube. Then added the swiss chard.
Then I added in the flour broth mixture, to that I added 2 cups milk, a splash of 10% cream for the heck of it.
Drain the potatoes and carrots add along with the turkey to the milk mixture. I really don’t like a dry pot pie, so I add more liquid as its cooking, you can use water or chicken stock. If its too thin mix a little more flour with water and whisk in quickly. You can control the texture of the white sauce, by adding more liquid or flour.
Taste and adjust seasoning with salt as your cooking.
Depending on how much filling you end up with is how many pies you will make, I sometimes make 2 9×13 in pans, this time I just made it in a large 13 x15 pan and covered it with 2 puff pastry sheets.
Brush puff pastry with 1 egg yolk combined with a teaspoon of milk and bake at 400 till golden brown.
Hope I explained that well enough, if you have any questions, please do ask:)
Alternate recipe:
- 1 whole chicken or a few pieces of chicken breast
- 1-2 carrots
- 1 cup peas
- 2-4 potatoes
- chicken broth
- cream
- 1 onion
- 2 sticks of celery
- flour
- 1/2-1 tsp dried tarragon
- 1 msg free chicken cube
- herb salt such as Herbamare
- 1 pkg thawed puff pastry dough
- 1 egg yolk
Bring chicken to boil, since my kids only like chicken breast in the pot pie, I only use that if I am boiling a whole chicken, you can use all of it or just boil chicken breast like I do at times.
Peel and cut the potatoes in small cubes, and slice the carrots, bring to boil in salted water, do not fully cook.
Chop onion and dice celery. Pan fry in a little butter and oil, add in the tarragon, chicken cube and herb salt. In a bowl or cup add about 1/2 cup flour and whisk in the broth. Pour into the pan with the onions, stir and add more broth. Stir and with a ladle continue to add broth until you get the consistency you are happy with, add in a splash of cream. Add in the peas, carrots, and potatoes. Cut cooked chicken pieces and stir in along with the veggies.
Taste and adjust seasonings if need be.
Roll out dough on a floured surface, large enough to cover your pan, I use a 13×9 inch glass pan. Brush egg yolk over pastry.
Bake at 375 until pastry is golden and puffy. Enjoy!