Popovers are an interesting pastry. They're not leavened by yeast or chemicals, but by water evaporating into steam, so it's important to put them into a very hot oven so they poof up right. That poofiness makes for a large cavity that is great to fill with both sweet and savory sauces. In addition to the way described here, you could also pour the batter into a popover pan to make individual servings.
Ingredients Popover
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
Filling
1 tablespoon butter
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 small onion, diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 cup green beans, chopped
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
12 oz chopped cooked chicken breast
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dill weed
2 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
Instructions
Popover: Heat oven to 450 degrees. Put 2 tablespoons butter in a 9x9 glass baking dish and let it melt in the hot oven. Meanwhile, melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter and add to a blender bowl with milk, eggs, and salt. Blend for 30 seconds on high until well combined and frothy. Carefully add flour. Blend on low for 30-60 seconds, just until there are no lumps left (over-mixing the flour will make for bad popovers). Pull the baking dish from the oven and swirl around so the butter coats the bottom. Pour in the batter and return to oven. Bake for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake for 10-15 minutes more, or until poofy and golden brown.
Filling: Melt the butter in a large skillet on low heat. Sweat the carrots, onion, bell pepper, and green beans with a heavy pinch of salt for 10 minutes, or until the veggies are softened. Stir in remaining ingredients and simmer for 2 minutes until cheese is melted and the sauce is completely mixed. Pour filling on top of popover, cut into wedges, and serve.
So I could try to take credit for this one, but I won't. Kudos to Alton Brown for developing the best use of ginger and molasses ever! These are buttery, spicy, and sweet all at the same time. Once you have these, you won't want any other kind!
Click the pic for the best gingersnaps you'll ever have!
Question: Do I have any readers left? To those of you who still check this site, I apologize to you and thank you for not giving up! I know that 5 months (to the day!) with no posts is a long time, but regular job & family + new baby + part time consulting work = no time for blogging!
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
Biscuit Topping:
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
Directions
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.
