Cooking With Kick: turkey

Showing posts with label turkey. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Turkey Pot Pie

Posted by Chris Smith | Tuesday, March 22, 2011 | Category: turkey, Turkey Pot Pie | 2 comments

Sunday I made a double batch of Turkey A la King and even with having seconds, my husband and I couldn't eat it all. So, I used the leftovers and made Turkey Pot Pie. Since it was going to be super easy to make I thought about making the pie crust from scratch, but instead I made Self Filled Cupcakes by Anny. I just ate another one. They are so good, but on to the Turkey Pot Pie!

You won't believe how easy this was to make. If you make this, just half my recipe for Turkey A la King or do what I did and you'll have a super easy supper for the work it takes to make one. First, I turned my oven on 425 degrees and pulled my leftovers out of the fridge.

Then I added a can of mixed vegetables and stirred them in. Now, I've been making homemade pot pie for some time and I've tried just about every brand of canned mixed vegetables there is. I do not recommend using a generic brand. The brand I use is Veg-All.

Pie crusts are not my specialty. However, I do plan on trying to get better at making them, but to keep this super easy I bought a package of two frozen deep dish pie crusts. I took them straight out of the freezer and put one of the pie crusts on a baking sheet and poured in the filling.

I set the other pie crust on top and ran my finger between the edge of the crust and the pan and carefully lifted the pan off the pie crust.

I took a knife and made a few slits in the top. One of the sides crumbled a little when I did this, but I just kind of pushed the pieces in the hole were they where.

Then I put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

The hardest part was waiting for it to get done!

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Turkey A la King and Turkey Pot Pie

Posted by Chris Smith | Sunday, March 20, 2011 | Category: turkey, Turkey A la King | 0 comments

When I was planning my menu for the week I looked in my freezer to see what meats I had. Back during the holidays I roasted a turkey, two days in a row. Since we were already overloaded with turkey from the first one, I pulled the legs and thighs off the second one and put them in the freezer (after putting it in a freezer bag). Well, I found it! I pulled them out of the freezer last night and put them in the fridge so I could debone them today and make Turkey A la King.

Turkey A la King

4 cups cooked, deboned Turkey
1 stick Butter
1/2 cup Onion
2 cups Chicken Broth
1/3 cup Cornstarch
2 cups Milk
1 teaspoon Salt
4 ounce can Mushrooms

I have to tell you, this is actually a double batch. I didn't intend to make a double batch until I figured out that I had 4 cups of turkey meat that needed to be eaten. Of course, we could just eat leftovers tomorrow, but why do that when I can make Turkey Pot Pie out of it! Tomorrow for supper I'll just add a can of mixed vegetables to it and throw it in a pie shell! Don't worry, I'll post the steps tomorrow. Now, to make a single batch just half everything and use flour instead of cornstarch (or you can eyeball half the cornstarch).

First I deboned the turkey legs and thighs and then chopped up the meat into smaller chunks with a knife.

Once that was done, I put the turkey meat in a bowl and set it to the side. Then I put a stick of butter and my onions (I already had chopped up onions from the last time I chopped up an onion and only used half of it) in a pan and turned the burner on medium low. Once the butter melted and started bubbling, I cooked it for about a minute and then turned off the burner.

Then I made chicken broth, the easy way. For every cup of chicken broth you need, put 1 bouillon cube in 8 ounces of water. I needed 2 cups so I put it in the microwave for 3 minutes.

While the chicken broth was in the microwave, I put the cornstarch, salt and milk in a small bowl. You can use flour instead of cornstarch, but you need to use twice the amount. If you are going to do a single batch, it will be easier to measure 1/3 cup. I don't think I've ever seen a 1/6 measuring cup before!

By this time the chicken broth was done. I turned the burner back on medium low and poured in the chicken broth. Once the mixture started bubbling, I poured in the milk, cornstarch mixture and stirred and stirred and stirred until it was thick and bubbling. Then I turned off the burner.

I drained the can of mushrooms by completely opening the top of the can and pushing it down into the can and pouring off the water. My husband isn't very fond of mushrooms so I chopped them up into tiny pieces before adding them to the pan.

Then I added the turkey meat and stirred everything together. I was going to add some pepper and decided to use McCormick Peppercorn Medley and grind some on top which I stirred in, but I wanted to show you about how much I added.