OK, on to the real reason we're here: turkey! I love it. I know a lot of you don't, but that's because it is frequently overcooked or not seasoned properly. Alton Brown has a great recipe, which I frequently make just for the leftovers! When I have a small crowd (or big turkey), I normally only serve half the turkey during the holiday and save the rest for a later date:
Fast forward to 2:21 for how to easily do this.
The point is, that weeks after whenever you last cooked turkey, you can still have turkey in an even more delicious form: Pot Pie. This pot pie is very easy and not too time consuming because you don't bother with pastry crust - you just use biscuit dough, which is much simpler to deal with.
Ingredients
Filling:
- 1/2 stick unsalted butter
- 1 large onion, diced
- 1 rib celery, diced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 clove garlic, minced or pressed
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 large carrot, chopped
- 2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon finely minced rosemary leaves
- 1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 cooked turkey breast half, cubed
- 1 1/2 cups frozen peas
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
- 1/2 cup buttermilk
Combine dry biscuit ingredients in a food processor. Pulse 3 times to mix. Add the chopped and chilled butter, pulse 5-10 times until the mixture is crumbly. While food processor is running, slowly pour in buttermilk. Turn off the food processor as soon as the last of the buttermilk is in. Briefly knead to ensure all the flour is integrated and form into a large disk. Wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge.
Preheat oven to 425. Melt 1/2 stick butter in a dutch oven or oven-safe skillet over medium-low heat. Sweat the onion, celery, and bell pepper with the kosher salt for 5-7 minutes, or until the celery is crisp-tender (keep the temp low, do not brown). Add the garlic and sweat for another 45 seconds. Evenly sift in the 1/4 cup flour using a wire strainer, stirring constantly. When the flour has evenly coated the aromatics and has just started to loose it's raw white color, add chicken broth, stirring to dissolve all the four. Add the carrots, potatoes, thyme, rosemary, pepper, and bay leaf and simmer on low heat, covered, for 10 minutes, or until the veggies are tender. Add the turkey and peas and simmer just until the peas are thawed and the turkey is warmed through. Season with additional salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat.
Roll the chilled biscuit dough on a floured surface to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. Cut into biscuits and cover the filling as evenly as possible. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until biscuits are light gold on top.
