Yesterday we ate turkey for Thanksgiving like so many other people did.
Today I am making broth, or stock, and chopping up the leftover turkey for meals to come.
If you have a big pot, like my Lodge Dutch Oven, (6 quart size) add the turkey carcass (you may have to pull the bones apart to make it fit) and some vegetables and herbs for flavor. I added garlic cloves, celery, green onions, parsley and basil leaves from my garden and covered the whole thing with water. It simmered for two hours, then I strained it into another big bowl. Once it was cool enough, I dug through the meat and bones and got about a cup of meat to use in another recipe.
Then….. I made a Turkey Pot Pie based on the Chicken Pot Pie I made recently.
Turkey Pot Pie, the day after
There is much more turkey to deal with, so maybe sandwiches or I’ll freeze it.
Pot pies are delicious and certainly one of my favorite foods. They tend to be filled with calories, and that is the only reason I don’t eat them more often.
My new Dutch Oven Obsession cookbook contains a recipe which I followed (somewhat) to create the pot pie pictured here.
I used a lot less chicken, only about a cup, and there recipe called for 6 cups. My favorite meals have more vegetables than meat. After lots of chopping of the carrots, celery, onions, and herbs from the garden, and boiling the frozen peas, I was ready to create the sauce. Then it was mixed together and a crust was added to the top.
I always buy my dough for crust because it’s good, and I don’t want to spend the time to make my own.
Sauce and vegetable filling
This would have been perfect with mushrooms, which the recipe calls for, but I didn’t have any. The sauce turned out nice and thick.
Putting the pie crust on was not as difficult as I imagined. A fork was used to push down the edges to make the outer crust. Because it all fit down inside the pan, there was no bubbling over to make a mess. Once it was assembled it was baked in the oven, uncovered.
Digging in….
Making my own food is important in keeping excess salt from my diet. I used unsalted butter, and fresh or frozen vegetables in this recipe. It’s one of the wonderful aspects of cooking for yourself: control of what is added. I also changed the recipe to suit myself. I didn’t have leeks or mushrooms, and I added potatoes and peas.
Pot Pie Goodness
I’m just starting to use the recipes from this book and there are many more I’d like to try.
These days a search for popular foods will bring up hundreds of similar recipes, and truthfully they are not all good.
I just tried to make Chocolate Lava Cake, or Molten Lava Cake, or add all those words together – whatever. The recipe I followed was wrong, saying to bake at 450 degrees for 12 minutes.
My cakes had no runny chocolate middle because they were over done! So I have searched other similar recipes to see what they say.
Chocolate lava cakes, baked
Recently I purchased little ramekins for baking just this type of thing. My Emile Henry (blue dishes) and Staub baking dishes are all 8 ounces in size and I think it is the perfect size since the batter puffed up to the top.
I won’t link to the inaccurate recipe, but found another that may work better at Very Best Baking. But they don’t say what size ramekin to use! They should “hold 4 oz of batter” – not really helpful when the batter will be expanding. As I said above, I used 8 ounce size bowls.
I have not tried this new recipe, but the fact that they say “bake for 7-8 minutes” makes me hopeful. Still they ask that the oven be set at 450 degrees and that seems high. Also they call for 4oz. of chocolate and I used 6oz., which seemed fine. The more chocolate the better, right?
In my Gordon Ramsey Makes it Easy cookbook, he also lists a Hot Chocolate Fondant, which is basically this chocolate cake, with a few changes, but his recipe is for 2 servings. He wants the oven set at 325 degrees and bake for 12 minutes, which in comparison, sounds good.
The cake is delicious even without the molten middle, so I will definitely try them again. This time I will follow Gordon’s recipe and baking time. After all, is Gordon ever wrong?
And I will update this page with my results.
Online recipes are not always to be believed. Too many food sites make things up and never try baking the recipes themselves. We have to be careful and sensible when using online recipes, and sometimes they just need a minor adjustment to be good. Sometimes just reading the comments from people who have already adjusted for the mistakes is very helpful.
I am lucky to live in a climate that allows for growing herbs (and some vegetables) year round. My little backyard garden provides me with parsley, fennel and peppers regularly. Because I can simply pick them any time, often I will incorporate veggies into my breakfast. Garden bell peppers, basil, fennel and hot peppers
Many aspects of our diet are picked apart and we are warned of so many foods these days, but vegetables are rarely demonized. Corn has too much sugar, but that is about the only negative thing I remember being said about a vegetable!
Because vegetables have always proven to be good for us, I constantly try to eat as many as possible. Frying garden peppers, beans and onions
I am not a big meat lover, and prefer fish to chicken or beef. Eggs hold so many good nutrients and provide protein to start the day and I usually eat one egg for breakfast. I used to make omelets, but these days I simply stir fry vegetables and herbs from my garden, then drop an egg into the mix, cook it up and eat! Super simple. Once the veggies are fried, add eggs and scramble
I don’t grow onions or garlic, but I do usually add those to my morning stir fry. To keep me using these nutritional foods without all the fuss, I keep leftovers in a container in the fridge. The easier it is to grab something the more you will use it. If I had to wash, de-seed, and chop peppers at each meal I may skip them altogether. If I had to skin and slice onions, same thing. But with them sitting in a handy container, ready to chop, adding to meals is much simpler. Keep leftover bits of pepper and onion in a container
To change it up a bit, sometimes I forego the eggs and eat apples and oatmeal. And when I have too much food in my fridge, sometimes I will eat leftovers from the night before. Fish and sweet potato fries are good for breakfast too!
New England's Narrow Road 