RN: Real Newbie, a nurse's blog: Mini Turkey Pot Pies

Things have been busy around here, last week I picked up an extra shift at the last minute. On top of that the weather has been getting cooler so I have had more of an urge to cook now that turning on the oven does not mean turning my kitchen into an inferno.

I have had a ton of leftover turkey in the fridge, we roasted a 14 pound bird on Columbus Day in celebration of Canadian Thanksgiving and spending the last 13 years with the same great guy. I already made soup and even fed the entire unit, so I was looking for some thing more involved.

I decided on turkey pot pie, but with only two of us eating it would be a huge waste to make a giant one and all the recipes that I looked at made pies that would feed a small army.

Then it hit me, if we make mini fruit pies of all kinds,

why not mini turkey pot pies?

It worked under the same principle, right?

The only catch in this plan is that I truly suck at making pie pastry, and I mean I really suck at it. For some reason my pie pastry always comes out tough, hard and tasting like salt dough, I bought some pre-made pie dough from the store but that seemed so wrong. So I sat down to do some research and found this recipe, All Butter Really Flaky Pie Dough from one of my favorite food blogs The Smitten Kitchen. The recipe comes with step by step picture instructions on how to get the perfect all butter pie crust, so I whipped up a batch and made a couple test pies that turned out perfect! The pastry is light, flaky and oh so buttery which compliments the rich creamy gravy of the pot pies. This recipe makes about 8 pot pies with some filling left over for another round, however there were no pot pies left at the end of the night, just one adoring husband.

Mini Turkey Pot Pies

(Recipe adapted from Left Over Turkey Pot Pie by The Pioneer Woman)

1 pie crust (All Butter Really Flaky Pie Dough from Smitten Kitchen)
1/4 stick butter
1/4 cup diced onion
1/4 cup diced carrot
1/4 cup diced celery
1/4 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup leftover turkey, light and dark, diced or shredded (or both!)
3 tablespoons flour
1 cup leftover gravy thinned with some hot water (you can use chicken broth instead)
splash of white wine (optional)
splash of heavy cream
Frozen peas
Fresh thyme, chopped (dry thyme is fine too)
Fresh Italian Parsley, chopped
Garlic Powder
Salt and Pepper to taste

Make All Butter Really Flaky Pie Dough from Smitten Kitchen wrap the dough and put in the fridge to chill while you make the filling.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Melt butter in a skillet add onion, carrots, and celery, and cook until translucent.Add turkey and stir. Sprinkle flour over mixture and stir. Cook over medium heat for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in thinned gravy, stirring constantly. Splash in wine (you can leave this out if you’d like but it tastes SO good.) Pour in cream and add frozen peas.Bring to a simmer and allow mixture to cook and thicken for a few minutes. Add salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste. Toss in parsley and fresh or dried thyme to taste. Do one final taste at the end and add what you like to make it taste right. Be sure not to under season.

Butter the inside of 6 muffins tins

Roll out crust so that it’s about 1/8 inch thick and cut into 3 1/2 inch rounds.Scoop a heaping table spoon into the center of one round, place a second round on top and pinch the edges closed all the way around.

All ready for the oven!

Place mini pie into buttered muffin tin. Cut vents in the top of the crust.Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until the pastry is very golden and the filling is bubbly.