I just love a good pot pie! That looks delicious! Would you care to share your recipe?
If you asked us what the perfect comfort meal is, we’d have to say homemade chicken pot pie! This top-rated and viewed recipe on Pillsbury.com was originally...
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Not at all. Although I don’t have a recipe per se. I started with the pillsbury recipe as a base and now I just sort of make it.
I make sure the pies are full, so I usually add a bit more turkey and veggies than the recipe calls for. Then I roughly increase the butter/flour/milk/stock measurements by 50% so I end up with more gravy/sauce. A pot pie isn’t a pot pie without some potatoes. I dice red potatoes and then par boil them until they are almost done and add them in to the filling. Usually a solid pound or more of potatoes per pie. A 50% increase in the sauce accounts for all the “extra” ingredients and keeps the ratios right. You can adjust to your liking obviously.
When I make the sauce I throw in a couple of cloves of pressed garlic with the onions. In addition, I’ll usually try and put just a bit of color on the roux before I add the milk and stock. We usually use whole milk or half and half. Butter and not margarine.
I’ve been adding in a bit of thyme to the sauce lately. It pairs well with the poultry. Also, I get the whole carcass (skin off) smoked at our local butcher. I think the smoked turkey is one of the reasons everyone loves it, the texture and flavor of the smoked turkey (white and dark meat) is fantastic in a pie.
The butcher shop halves the finished bird on the band saw and vac seals it. Half a tom makes three pot pies. And I use all of it - breast, leg, thigh, wing all diced up. So, I kinda use a recipe. I couldn’t tell you how many cups of turkey, but I know it’s 1/6th of a tom per pie. I’m guessing around 3 cups.
Sometimes I’ll add some celery if we have it. I will also substitute a third of the potatoes for sautéed pieces of button mushrooms. I’d have mushrooms in the pie every time, but my brother has an issue with mushrooms so we all pay the price. The mushrooms really compliment the smoked turkey.
And because I make a substantial pie, they usually take a bit longer to get that bottom crust cooked. Because of the added cook time, I’ll keep it covered in foil for the last half is the cook. Finally, if you understand how to make a gravy/sauce, its pretty easy to adjust the amount and viscosity of the sauce to your liking. Wetter or drier, thicker or thinner, whatever you prefer.
