He’s not my Uncle, but he is Uncle Billy. This is an approximated image of him:
(But for all the ladies in da house, Bill has a glorious head o’ hair.)
As Monsieur Guillaume is a gourmet, I have promised him the secret to Nirvana at Chez Recipe - Turkey Pot Pie. It’s all in the fillo dough crust and the long hours of loving hand work. Not really. Let’s bechamel, shall we?
This title is for all of the folks who remember disco skating and Simple Minds, whom I saw in concert thus rendering me more sensitive than you.
The “Smoke Up, Johnny! Bring Me My” Turkey Pot Pie
You need two turkey parts to bake. BabyDaddy & RockStar like a mix of white & dark so I use 1 drumstick and 1 breast. BD also likes the skin, so I leave it in, but he warns that it can be a bit “slimy”.
1 box frozen fillo dough
olive oil or melted butter for fillo*
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, quartered lengthwise and diced
1 stalk celery, washed and diced
1 tsp dried thyme OR 1 stalk fresh thyme, whole and 1/2 tsp dried thyme
4 tbs (1/2 stick) salted butter
4 tbs all purpose flour
1 quart whole or 2% milk
Veggies that you like in pot pie. I use frozen corn, frozen peas, sometimes taters, sometimes edamame
salt & pepper to taste
Preheat oven to 350 F. Wash, salt & pepper turkey pieces and put in an 11 inch by 7 inch rectangular pan. I use a clear glass job that I paid $4 for at a place that begins with T and ends with arget. Cover with foil and bake until juices run clear. Set aside, for days even. HOWEVER, I like to leave some of the pan juices in the dish to pour the filling on top of.
Have a cocktail. Get out one of the fillo packets to thaw (or thawl as RockStar insists.)
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. When all butter is melted and sizzling, add flour and stir constantly so the mixture doesn’t burn. Count to 45 using the Mississippi/Chimpanzee method. Stir in 3/4 of a cup of milk. The sauce will “seize” or clump due to the chill of the milk hitting the butter - IT WILL BE OK.** When the sauce starts to “set” or feel dry, add another 3/4 of a cup of milk. Eventually, the sauce will begin to relax. This means it will take longer for the sauce to set. Add the fresh thyme at this point if you have it. Continue adding milk until the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon, lightly.** Taste for seasonings and add salt and pepper at this point. Add the dried thyme.
Have a different cocktail.
Add frozen veggies to sauce. Cut or shred turkey into bite sized pieces and add. Let the combined filling cook on LOW for 5-10 minutes after you have tasted for seasonings.
Cocktail.
Make sure oven is 350 F. Pour delicious filling into the pan. Unroll fillo and cover with a damp towel. (Fillo dries out in 30 - 60 seconds so always keep the dough that you aren’t working with covered.) Place two layers of fillo on the pot pie. Breakage is expected and the bits that stand up are the crunchy goodness. Brush top fillo layer with oil or butter, lightly. Keep adding layers, 2 at a time, until you have at least 20 layers. Brush the top layer with oil or butter.
Have a snack.
Put the pot pie in a 350 F oven. Bake until bubbly and the top is a lovely golden brown color all over.
Consume. Put leftovers in the freezer. Eat within 1 month.
*I use olive oil in a Misto, but a cheap paintbrush, well washed, works just fine.
**If you put too much liquid in your bechamel, melt 1 tbs butter and 1 tbs flour in another pan to make a roux. Slowly start adding the thin sauce to this mixture. When you have half the original sauce in the new pan, add it back to the mother sauce.
This is no drawer-dropper, Billy, but it’ll do you right when things are cruddy at the Old Lady Towers.
