Scarlett’s Turkey Pot Pie

November 4, 2017 Laura

One of my daughter’s favorite things to do is watch tutorial videos. If I let her, she can go down a time-sucking rabbit hole of 5-min crafts, hair braiding and food videos. Generally, I’m not a fan of her spending too much time watching videos but we usually end up doing it together because, truth be told, I like them too. One day Scarlett came to me with one of those super-popular, recipe videos where you can watch an entire dish comes together in less than a minute. I figured it would be some outlandish dessert made of brownies, cookies and candy but it was a chicken pot pie. There was no recipe just the steps of the dish whipped together in one glorious display of deliciousness. Scarlett turned to me and said, “I really want to make this.” I told her we had to find the recipe because we didn’t know the ingredient amounts but she shrugged her shoulders and, with the nonchalance only a kid could muster, replied, “Don’t worry, I’ll figure it out.”

Scarlett was excited to make the dish for our family meal with her grandfather on the weekend of Canadian Thanksgiving. I decided we’d slow cook a bone-in turkey breast on Friday night; giving us enough turkey for Saturday’s pot pie and leftovers for our smaller dinner up North at the cottage on Sunday night. I shopped for all the ingredients (Scarlett normally likes to shop for her “projects”) and handled slow cooking the turkey. On Saturday, after a power breakfast of waffles, Scarlett dove into creating her dish using her instincts and the memory of the video as her guide. Honestly, I was just a by-stander. She did most of the chopping and handled all the cooking. She was so confident; adding pours of broth and cream until she had the desired consistency and maneuvering the puff pastry like a seasoned baker.

Needless to say, we all loved the dish and I tested it multiple times after our Thanksgiving success. I was so proud Scarlett’s amounts needed little tweaking. For the sake of these photos, I made the dish and, because we’d eaten it a bunch of times since Thanksgiving, I sent it home with our beautiful prop stylist Catherine Doherty. As she left the studio carrying the casserole, I had a slight feeling of disappointment. It was going to be a great dinner for her family but it wasn’t made by Scarlett. For the first time, I realized the student is becoming the master.

Photos by Ashely van der Laan

Scarlett’s Turkey Pot Pie

Ingredients

For the turkey:
1 large onion, quartered
1 (2 to 7 pound) bone-in whole turkey breast with skin
3/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, minsed
1 tablespoon fresh, chopped thyme
1 tablespoon fresh, chopped sage
1/2 teaspoon pepper
For the pot pie:
20 mini yellow potatoes, quartered
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus a bit for potatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
3 stalks celery, diced
3 1/2 cup chicken stock
3/4 cup cream
1/2 cup flour
3 cups chicken, diced or shredded
1 cup frozen peas
1 tsp fresh, chopped sage
salt and pepper
1 store bought puff pastry dough, defrosted

Method

For the turkey:

Place the onion, turkey breast (breast side down) broth, bay leaves, garlic, thyme, sage and pepper in a slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 5 to 6 hours, or until the internal temperature of reaches 160F.

Transfer turkey to a carving board and loosely tent with foil and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Remove the skin and carve turkey into bite size pieces. Set aside.

Or you can use 3 cups of chopped turkey leftovers.

Place your potatoes in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook the potatoes until they are par boiled, about 8 minutes depending on their size. Drain potatoes, drizzle with a bit of olive oil and set aside.

For the pot pie:

In a large skillet over medium heat, add the oil and saute the garlic, onion, carrot, and celery until tender, about 8 to 11 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the flour. Add the broth and cream and bring to a boil and then reduce and stir until sauce thickens. Adjust the seasoning and add sage. Stir in the chicken, potatoes and peas. Take filling off the heat and spoon into a 9x13 casserole dish.

With the rack in the lowest position, preheat your oven to 400.

Lightly flour a clean work surface and roll out your puff pastry so it will cover your casserole dish. Carefully lay your puff pastry over the casserole dish with filling. Be carefully to place it gently as the filling will be hot and your puff pastry will melt and stick to it if you try and adjust it. Crimp the edges of your casserole dish and slice incisions into the puff pastry to allow steam to escape. Brush pastry surface with milk.

Bake for about 30 - 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown. Let rest for 15 minutes and serve.

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