Mini Turkey Pot Pies

My husband is addicted to these.  I had left over "pie filling" and had to make more crust tonight to make the rest of these.  I quote, "I could eat these every day.  When are you making them again.  Can I have these for lunch tomorrow?"  I told him, the boys may want some...he looked at me with a blank stare.  I guess he will be coming home for lunch tomorrow to have them.  :)

This all started when I saw a food network program use leftover turkey and green bean casserole, stuff them into puff pastry in a muffin pan and bake them.  I thought, I don't have the green beans but could easily find a recipe for a filling.  I came across Simple Comfort Food and found my filling recipe.

You will not believe how easy the filling is to make!

I used my Martha Stewart Home Baking Handbook to get my recipe for the pie crust.  It is super easy and only has 4 ingredients:  flour, salt, butter and water.

I used biscuit cutters to cut the "bottom crust" (4 inch circle cutter) and "top crust" (2 inch circle cutter). 

The Simple Comfort Food website uses ramekins for the pot pies, which I do have, but the muffin pan seemed so much easier.  You just line the muffin pan with the larger circles, making sure they reach to the top.

Fill each pie crust with the prepared filling.  I made the filling first because it allows it to set to cool a bit which made it easier to handle.  I used a large scoop to get an even amount into each cup.  Add the small circle cut outs to the top of each pie and make sure they seal to the bottom dough so the filling doesn't ooze out while baking.  

Brush each mini pie with egg wash and cut two slits in the top to let the steam escape while it is baking in the oven.  Bake 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.  

Can you say yum?  You will LOVE these!  You could really use chicken or turkey.  We just had a lot of leftover turkey.  Enjoy!  Let me know what you think.

Here are the ingredients for the filling:

• 4 cups of cooked turkey breast, cut into cubes
• 2 sheets of pie crust (I used Martha's recipe from The Homebaking Handbook)
• 4 Tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 celery stalks, cleaned, and thinly diced (I skipped the celery)
• 2 carrots, cleaned, skinned, and thinly diced
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1 cup of chicken stock
• 1 tsp of dried thyme (I used fresh)
• 1/4 cup dry sherry (I used extra chicken stock)
• 1/2 cup frozen green peas
• 1 tbsp fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 egg, beaten, for brushing on top of the pie crust
• Ramekins (I used a 12 cup muffin pan)

Directions:
 
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a large pot slowly melt the butter. Next, add in your onions, celery, and carrot and cook for about 10 minutes, stir occasionally. Add the flour, and stir, cooking for another couple of minutes. Whisk in the milk and continue to whisk until smooth. Stir in the chicken stock, and sherry (if using, or extra stock). Bring the heat to low, and cook for another 10 minutes. The sauce will thicken. Stir in the thyme, parsley, peas, turkey, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Spray the muffin tin with Pam.  Line each muffin cup with the larger dough cut out.  I actually rolled them out a little larger to make sure they reached the top of the sides of the cups all around.  Fill each cup with a large scoop of the filling.  Top each pie with the small cut out and crimp them together.  It is fine to have the cup "overfilled" a bit.  Brush with egg wash and cut a couple of slits in the dough for steam.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 25-30 minutes, or until they are a nice golden brown.  Allow to cool on a cooking rack for 10 minutes before removing.  Use a butter knife to cut around the edges to get them out.