So I told you last night I’d post about my Turkey Pot Pies I made last night, but first I  must gripe.

I get on facebook this morning & check my messages to find this.

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Jack February 24 at 8:51am Report

Can you do me a favor and stop sending me invites for Bananas in my freezer? Thanks.

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Fair enough. My reply

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Ryan Black February 24 at 10:36am

Sure, but why dont you just unfriend me if it’s that annoying to you?
I’m just promoting myself & my future book. Just like you do when you post things about your band. Peace

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Now I’m not innocent of being annoyed by posts on Facebook, but I simply delete them or press ignore. I mean is it really that hard? This guy posts really annoying things all the time about his horrible band & things he thinks are funny and I don’t, but do I ask him to stop? No. There’s a guy who’s a real estate agent in Chicago that constantly asks me to join his page for real estate in Chicago. Does it annoy me? Yes! It’s every fucking day for two weeks! What do I do? I delete him. I’m not in Chicago ya idiot nor do I want real estate there. It’s very simple. Mind you I’ve only had Bananas In My Freezer for about 4 days and I’ve sent out requests maybe 2 or 3 times. Too aggressive for my first week? I don’t know. I don’t care. If you don’t like it delete me. I don’t give a care and I certainly won’t miss you. It’s that simple ya Jive Turkey (as George Jefferson would say to Tom Willis).

If you want something, you go after it. If it annoys people along the way. Fuck’em. If you can’t understand that I’m simply fulfilling a dream, you are no friend of mine. Land sakes alive!

Turkey Pot Pies!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I’m not kidding you when I say these’ll  make you wanna slap your Grandma. The pastry is out of this world and Marie Callender is currently trying to dig out of her grave to steal the two left over in my freezer.

Yeah that’s her. Look at her tryin’ to be all cute n stuff. Well Marie you better mind your peas and carrots cuz this pot pie’s taking no prisoners!

I’m a huge pot pie fan. When my Mom was working nights when I was a kid, it was up to my Dad to cook us dinner. I can remember quite a few Hungry Man Jack’s & especially pot pies. I’m sure they were Stouffers or something. Every once in a while my Dad would cook Shark & I can remember eating sardines with Ritz crackers with him too. I’m not a huge fan of seafood now & the thought of sardines especially makes me yak. Back to the pies. My dad would give me the pot pie so frickin’ hot it would burn the roof of my mouth. He’d always say turkey pot pies made you eat chicken for days (meaning the dangling burnt skin on the roof of your mouth). The fact is pot pies are so good you want to eat them right away. When you puncture the crust that creamy loveliness inside is irresistible. Well hold on to your hat’s and glasses folks because this pot pie is gonna take you for a ride!

One precautionary tale: It took me a half an hour to find my dough blade for my cuisinart because Dana never puts anything back in the same place twice.  I felt like my Mother nagging him. “Where did you put it? Well it doesn’t have legs. It couldn’t just walk away! Can’t you put anything back where it goes??!!” . Finally I showed him the metal blade and told him it looked just like it but was plastic. He says “Oh it’s sitting right there on the counter. I didn’t know what it was”. ARGHHHH. Moral of the story. Do your own dishes. And if you don’t want to do your own dishes & you say “If you can’t do anything right, don’t do it at all”. Be prepared to hear “Do your own dishes”. Fine.

Turkey Pot Pie!!

Serves 4

The Dough

You’ll want to make this first as it really should chill in the refrigerator while you make the filling. This dough is out of this world and should be followed to the T.

2 cups all purpose flour

1 & 3/4 sticks butter (I use salted)  or 7 ounces chilled & cubed

1 tbs vegetable shortening

1/2 tsp sugar

pinch of salt

1/3 c. ice cold water

This should be mixed in a cuisinart or food processor. If you don’t have one you can cut in all the ingredients or use a kitchen aid with dough attachment.

For processor put all ingredients in the bowl with dough blade except water. Pulse it about 10-12 times until crumbly. Add the water and pulse a few times until just barely comes together. It may still be crumbly at this point but don’t worry. Don’t knead the dough together. Place the dough on plastic wrap and bring it together & flatten it. Place in fridge while making the filling. The key here is not mixing the dough too much. When  we’re ready to roll out you can add a few drops of water if dough pieces aren’t coming together.

For filling

Poach/Boil

2  large turkey breasts (or two cups when chopped) or 4 chicken breasts

2 – 3 large carrots quarted  & cubed

2 large celery stalks cut in 1/4 inch pieces

1 Fennel bulb  sliced

1 leek sliced

1 bunch of shallots/green onion chopped

1 basket of sliced mushrooms

1 cup peas

1 herb bouquet (sprigs of thyme , tarragon, oregano,parsley) or 2 tbl of French or Italian season blend

1 tbl chopped garlic

1 tbl kosher salt

1 tsp. fresh pepper

About 8 cups water

reserve 2 tbl. of parsley set aside

You’re going to first boil or poach all of these ingredients together except peas. I put a strainer at the bottom to easily remove the contents & we’ll also use the poaching liquid. Leave the turkey or chicken breasts whole. I also throw in a lot of extras like the fennel stalks, celery leaves, leek leaves, parsley & basically whatever is in the chrisper. You could also add 2 cups of white wine. 1 cup for you & 1 cup for the poach. You could even add bacon crumbs if you really want to send your cholesterol on end.

Bring to a rapid boil then reduce to an even slow boil for 20 minutes. Turn off heat & cover. Let sit. You can remove immediately but for better flavor let it sit for a half hour or so.

Take the strainer out and pour contents out into a large bowl leaving liquid in the pot. Remove herb bouquet & any large stalks you may have added. Dice the turkey or chicken and return to the vegetable mixture & add  the peas and 2 tbl of chopped parsley.

For the Cream sauce or Veloute

3 tbl butter

4 tbl flour

4 c. poaching liquid

1 c heavy cream (i know but omg)

salt & fresh pepper

Making the sauce.

Ladel 4 cups  of the poaching liquid into a saucepan & reduce it by half to 2 cups. After reduction in another sauce pan melt the butter and whisk the flour into it making a thick paste. Mix for a minute over the heat and remove. Add this to the reduced liquid and whisk rapidly over heat. Add the cream and whisk  over heat for a couple minutes until the sauce coats a spoon. Salt & pepper to taste.

Fold this sauce into the vegetable mixture. Cover & set aside.

Prepare the dough

Preheat oven to 400 F

I use 4 – round 14 oz. souffle dishes but you can also use 1 big round gratin. I prefer individual servings.

Roll out the dough with plenty of flour on both sides into one large sheet. I roll it fairly thin. Then I cut it into 4 equal pieces. Now, I like dough on the inside of the cup as well as on top. Some people just put on top. It’s up to you. If you only put on top then you can cut the recipe in half. I strongly suggest you do it inside as well!  Place each of the 4 pastry pieces into your cups lightly tucking into corners. Don’t worry if it rips or tears. You can repair it, fill it in or leave it. There should be plenty of dough left hanging off the side to trim off to make your lids.  Take the scraps and roll into a ball then roll out and cut into 4 equal pieces. If it looks like they’re not big enough to cover lids then cut into two pieces and after you fill the pies you can continue cutting scraps and re rolling them.  You’ll get the hang of it. This dough recipe will make exactly enough dough inside & out for the 4 – 14oz. souffle dishes. I mean exactly!

Whisk one egg in a bowl & set aside with an egg wash brush

Fill your pies. There should be enough filling to reach the top of your 14 oz. dishes almost perfectly. Now start to cover your pies. After your pies are all covered and  trimmed to the edge, brush the lids with plenty of egg wash. Even brush the sides where the dough meets the dish (you can even brush the rim before placing lids on but I don’t find it necessary if you brush plenty of egg on and pinch the lid to the cup edge).

Place your pies on a cookie sheet on the center rack for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375 F and cook for another 20 minutes or so until golden. I don’t find it necessary to vent the pies, but you can.

Usually I only cook 2 and the other 2 I plastic wrap and ziplock in the freezer.

Once you get the hang of this recipe you’ll find it easy and you’ll never want to go back to frozen pot pies. Believe me, the effort is well worth it!

Now eat the living hell out of  them!

Finished

Inside

YUMMMMM