Pot Pies

As I have mentioned in my last post I am expecting number two, and currently I am sitting at the 33 week mark. So right now it is all about the comfort foods and nesting.

I mean really there is nothing quite as nice as having your freezer full of premade meals waiting to go that are homemade so not packed full of salts or other preservatives.

One of the premade meals my husband and I prepared this past weekend was some Turkey Pot Pies.

Now I am not sure about you, but sometimes when I do the big turkey roast I find I am too tired at the end of it all to actually get that darn soup on the boil. So I will often find myself packing up the bones and bits and tossing them in the freezer to make stocks later on in the year. Given that we are within those first three weeks of 2015, I have one such a bag from our turkey from New Years Day.

So first thing I did with this meal was I boiled up my bones, as I wanted a nice stock to make the gravy for my pot pies. If you aren't sure how to make stock, it really is the most simplest of things.

Take some nice bones [which taste even better and create a richer stock after they have been roasted], a carrot, some celery, onion, and garlic. Toss them all in a large stock pot with a fee bay leaves and enough water to cover over the entire thing. Then boil away. You can adjust spicing as you go [adding in pepper or salt etc] but it is the gelatin in the bones which have all the flavour so just boil it away as long as you can before packing it up.

Once I boil my bones I then either go ahead and make a soup from it or package it up for later use, some just stock, and some with meat. then freeze it so that I can pull out what I need as I need it.


Turkey Pot Pie

1 Turkey breast [already roasted up and chopped into cubes]
2c of mixed vegetables [you can use whatever you have on hand, for this one I used a classic pea, carrot and corn mix and tossed in a few handfuls of spinach as well]
4c Turkey stock
3/4c  flour
2-3T butter
Milk
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 package of premade puff pastry [If you are amazing at making puff pastry please go ahead and make it, for me I find it is a bit easier to pick this one up predone and just have a few rolls of it in the freezer]

First thing I do with this is make a nice classic gravy, by melting down my butter and browning the flour. Using a whisk I make sure that the flour gets to a nice brown which gives it a nutty flavour. then I slowly add in my stock until I have a nice thick paste, to thin it out a bit I add in milk.  This process can take time as you want to ensure that there are no lumps in that gravy and it is a nice smooth consistency. Taste as you go and add in additional spicing as needed.

Add in your chopped veg and meat and mix together so that it is all well incorporated.

Pour your gravy meat mix into either one large pan or in two loaf pans [I tend to use two so I can freeze one for a later meal] and then cut your pastry to the shape of the top and lay it over the gravy mix.

It really is that simple.

If storing, cover over once cool and freeze [I wouldn't store it longer than 3mths, if it can even last that long].

Bake at 375deg uncovered for 45m until your crust is brown and there is bubbling up around the edges from the gravy [I toss a catch all cookie sheet at the bottom of my oven to catch any unwanted mess].

Let cool for about 5m before serving, makes enough for 6.