Sometimes I am so incredibly overwhelmed with our life. The chores, the toddler wrangling, the cleaning, cooking, laundry, single-parent struggle. There are days when one single moment with Owen can send me into a mine field of self-doubt -- and then there are days that I say to myself,
"You know what? I rock at this."
And a week after Thanksgiving, I rocked my kitchen like Betty effing Crocker.
Thanksgiving was a small affair around here. Jeremy had to work and with no family around, we opted for a small 10lb turkey and invited another couple over. Four adults and two toddlers came no where close to polishing off that bird, and as Jeremy carefully scraped every last fiber from the carcase he lamented that SOMETHING MUST BE DONE WITH IT. Turkey soup? He suggested.
Another blogger was raving about her friend's
chicken pot pie a while back, so I (ambitiously) bookmarked the recipe knowing A) I have NEVER made a pie in my life. no pie. never. not apple, cherry or meat pie. B) I'm intimidated by PIE.
However, my darling husband LOVES POT PIE. So after looking at the zip-lock bags of Turkey I figured I had nothing to lose and I made a frickin' pie. FROM SCRATCH. I had to modify the recipe since I have the pickiest husband in the world but this is how it went. {Disclaimer: there is NOTHING healthy about this recipe. Mountains of butter and cream cheese make it delicious but not slimming}
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| Step 1: find a really cute helper! |
for the filling:
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
1 large russett potato, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 ribs celery, diced
1/2 bag of mini carrots, chopped
1/2 can corn
salt and freshly ground pepper
leftover turkey, diced
for the sauce:
7 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
2½ cups chicken broth
½ cup heavy cream
salt and freshly ground pepper
for the crust:
16 tbsp. cold unsalted butter
3 cups all-purpose flour
10 oz. cream cheese, chilled
1 tsp. salt
¼ tsp. pepper
1 large egg
1. to make the filling, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion/potato/carrots/celery to the pan, and sauté for about 5 minutes. mix in the garlic cook for about 15-20 minutes more, until the potatoes are tender (add a little chicken broth and cover). Once the vegetables are finished cooking, turn off the heat and mix in the diced turkey, corn and season with salt and pepper to taste.
2. to make the sauce, melt the butter over medium heat in a large saucepan. add the flour and whisk until smooth. whisk in the chicken broth and cook over medium heat until it thickens to the consistency of a cream soup. mix in the cream (or not) and season with salt and pepper to taste. pour the cream sauce over the turkey/veggie mixture and stir to combine well.
3. preheat the oven to 375° F.
to make the crust, cut the butter into 16 pieces. in the bowl of a large food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the butter and flour until crumbly (I used electric beaters, lightly - they worked!) add the cream cheese, salt and pepper. continue pulsing just until the dough forms a ball. transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface i.e. countertop. use a floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to about ¼-inch thickness. Halve the dough, one can be slightly bigger. Roll it out larger ball and cover the bottom of your pie dish w some hangover. Add filling. Roll out second dough ball and cover pie. Wrapping edges. (then I went to the internet to find out how to make curly edges and vents. Watch after 2:05 of
THIS VIDEO ) I cut 8 slits for vents and used foil strips to cover the crust. beat the egg with a whisk, and brush the top lightly with the beaten egg.
4. bake for 35 minutes (take foil off last 5-10 minutes), or until crust is golden brown. *This pie is A TON of food. I honestly think we ate it for a week*
I'll be honest, as soon as I pulled this baby out of the oven I DANCED IN MY KITCHEN. I was so proud of myself. I made a pie! A PIE! FROM SCRATCH! AND IT LOOKS AWESOME!!
Jeremy came home, freaked out, oogled over it and then cut himself a slice and proceeded to gush about how good it was. The crust? Is to die for.
Like I said, some days I rock at my job.
