Easy Tasty Turkey Potpie

Every year after roasting a turkey and making tons of giblet gravy, I look forward to the leftovers.  Not that I don’t enjoy the original meal, because I do, but one of my very favorite things is potpie.  And leftover roast of any fowl is likely to see itself again as potpie in our house, if there are indeed any leftovers.  It is also a well-established fact that leftover roast beef or lamb turns into shepherds’ pie here.  Also a fact, but less well-known, is that I don’t have a recipe for any of these.  Pie interiors depend upon what is leftover.  You got mashed or roasted potatoes?  Excellent.  Buttered carrots or peas?  But, of course.  Brussels sprouts or green beans, cooked with garlic and bacon.  You betcha.  I’ve even been known to throw in some maque choux.  About the only turkey dinner things I won’t throw in there are stuffing (soaks up all the gravy) and jellied cranberry sauce and candied yams for the obvious reason:  too sweet.  So, as you can imagine, it would be hard to follow a recipe.

This year though, at the request of a reader on Facebook, I tried to quantify the amounts and not use just leftovers that you might not have.  Feel free to substitute for the potato and carrot if you do have already cooked, leftover vegetables. Also, play free and loose with the amounts.  Potpie is the most forgiving of meals.  This one is for you, Denise from Succasunna, New Jersey!  You’ve been on my mind and I apologize for the delay.

Also, lovely people:  Consider this your heads up to make lots of gravy if you are planning a Christmas turkey.  So you can make potpie!

Yep, those are frozen peas, still frozen.
And congealed gravy.  It's all good. 

Ingredients for a three-four person potpie
8 oz or 230g leftover turkey, off the bone
1 cup or 240ml turkey gravy – still chilled is good.  No need to warm.
1 medium carrot
1 medium potato
1/2 cup frozen or leftover peas
1 fresh red chili – optional
1 sheet puff pastry or enough to cover an 8in x 8in or 23cm x 23cm pan
1-2 cups or 240-480ml turkey stock or salted water for cooking carrot and potato
Sea salt
Black pepper


Method
Preheat your oven to 400°F or 200°C.

Peel and dice your carrot and peel and cut your potato into small cubes.

Cut the turkey into medium pieces and set aside.  Chop the red chili finely, if using, and set aside.

Cook the carrot and potato in leftover turkey broth or salted water until just tender.

Remove the carrot and potato to a mixing bowl with a slotted spoon so you can save the stock for soup, if using.  Otherwise, drain the pot of the salted water and put the carrot and potato into a mixing bowl.

Add in the turkey, chili and peas.  Stir well.

Add in the gravy and give it a good couple of grinds of fresh black pepper.  Stir well.  Taste the mixture and add a little salt, if needed.

Spread the mixture evenly in your pan.  Do not be concerned that it looks dry because remember that your gravy will turn liquid again when heated.

Top with the puff pastry, tucking the ends under, if necessary, to get side to side coverage.  Push the pastry gently up against the sides.

Poke holes in the pastry with the tip of a sharp knife to let the steam out.

Bake in your preheated oven for around 30 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and you can see the filling bubbling up a little bit around the edges.

Serve alone or with a mixed green salad.

Enjoy!

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Muffins with Pecan Filling #MuffinMonday

I’ve got another special one for you this week!  And it smells just like Christmas.

The original recipe for this Muffin Monday was a delightful one that called for rolling the batter in cinnamon sugar like a snickerdoodle.  But it also sounded much more like making cake batter than muffins, with its creaming the butter and adding the eggs one at a time, then adding the flour and sour cream in alternating steps.  Not that it was too complicated, but muffins, for me, should require that I dirty only two bowls:  One for dry ingredients and one for the wet ones.  And certainly should not involve my beloved Kenwood mixer.

So I adapted the recipe to fit the appropriate muffin pattern:  Mix dry.  Mix wet.  Add wet to dry.  But since we are still in the holiday series of Muffin Monday, I couldn’t leave it at that!  So I dirtied another bowl for you, good people, and made some pecan filling as well.  Because I love you.  And, because Christmas is coming, I made some cinnamon sugar for the topping in snickerdoodle fashion.  Yes, we are really pushing the boat out in the lead up to Christmas!

These would be great on Christmas morning.  Your components can be made ahead of time and mixed together in the morning while your oven preheats.  (Just put the eggs/milk/sour cream mixture in the refrigerator overnight and substitute canola oil for the butter.)  Overachievers can even prepare the muffin tin ahead of time.  You know who you are!

Ingredients
For the muffin batter:
2 cups or 250g all purpose flour
3/4 cup or 170g dark brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 cup or 120ml milk
1/2 cup or 120ml sour cream
1/2 cup or 115g unsalted butter, melted and cooled or canola or other light oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs

For the pecan cinnamon filling:
1 rounded 1/4 cup or 35g plain flour
1 rounded tablespoon or 15g soft unsalted butter
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt (a good pinch)
1/2 cup or 75g pecans
1/2 cup or 60ml Karo or golden syrup (I used clear Karo.)

For the topping:
3 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
12 pecan halves

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C and grease your 12-cup muffin pan or line with muffin papers.

Chop the pecans for your filling finely, either by hand or in a food processor.

The food processor is soooo much easier.  

Mix them in a bowl with the rest of the filling ingredients.  This will end up quite a sturdy paste.  Set aside.

In a large bowl mix together your flour, dark brown sugar, baking powder, salt and then grate in your nutmeg.

In a smaller bowl, whisk your milk, sour cream, vanilla, melted butter or oil and eggs.

Pour your wet ingredients into your dry ingredients and stir until just combined.

Using a scoop or a tablespoon, put about two tablespoons of batter into each prepared muffin cup.

Evenly distribute the pecan filling among the muffin cups.  Gently press it down into the batter.

Top with the remaining batter.

Put one pecan half on the top of the batter in each cup, gently pressing it down as well.

Mix three tablespoons of sugar with one teaspoon of cinnamon and sprinkle liberally over all of the muffin cups.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Remove the muffins from the muffin pan and cool further on a rack.

Enjoy!

Rum Raisin Butter Bundt with Rum Honey Glaze for #BundtaMonth

This rum raisin Bundt cake is loaded with rich butter and topped with a rum honey glaze.

It’s time for another Bundt cake!  And for this month’s BundtaMonth the theme is Boozy December so my mind instantly turned to rum and raisin.  It’s a classic combination, at least in the Caribbean.  Ask any Trinidadian.  Rum is an essential part of many of their recipes from black cake to rum punch to ice cream.  Indeed, rum raisin is one of their most traditional ice cream flavors. 

Also, my current liquor cabinet, which is an 8-inch space of cabinet in my kitchen, is extremely limited to what was purchased upon entry in Duty Free. Here in Dubai, you cannot buy alcohol until you have a liquor license.  And you cannot get a liquor license until you have a resident’s permit. And you cannot get a resident’s permit until you can stay in the country for three weeks at a stretch because you have to surrender your passport to the relevant authorities. And my dear husband was only here a couple of days before he was off again to Paris.

So, without further ado, I give you this rum raisin Bundt cake with loads of rich butter, topped with a rum honey glaze.  I made this for the lovely real estate agent who helped us get settled in our house.  She went beyond the normal call of duty, even taking me to buy snacks at the grocery store on the day that I was waiting around in an empty house without transport or telephone for the airfreight and rental furniture. She deserved a cake filled with booze and gratitude!

When I sent this home with her whole, my only request was that she send me some photos when she cut it, so the last photo is hers.  If you need a recommendation for a real estate agent here in Dubai, just let me know.  She is wonderful!

Ingredients
For the cake:
100g golden raisins
1 cup or 240ml golden rum, divided into half
3 cups or 375g flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups or 340g butter, softened
1 1/2 cups or 240g sugar
3 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 cup or 240ml heavy cream

For the glaze:
1/2 cup or 115g butter
1/2 cup or 120ml honey
1/2 cup or 120ml rum

Method
Put the raisins in a small bowl and pour half of the rum for the cake over them.  Allow to soak until all the rum is absorbed by the raisins.  (This can be done a day ahead to save time on baking day.)  Hide the bowl in the refrigerator or passersby will keep pinching raisins out of your rum bowl.  Or was that just me?  Anyway, better to put them out of sight.

When you are ready to proceed, preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.  Thoroughly butter or spray your Bundt pan with non-stick spray and then coat it with a little flour.

In a medium size bowl, mix together your flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, use electric beaters or your stand mixer to cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Add in the eggs and egg yolk and vanilla and beat again until blended.  Don't forget to scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add in the rum and beat again.  Don’t be alarmed when the batter looks curdled.  As we add in the flour mixture that curdled look will go away.

Add about a third of the flour mixture to the batter, along with a third of the cream.

Beat until just incorporated and then add another third of each.

Continue the process with the last third of flour mixture and cream.

Fold in the rum soaked raisins.  There might be a little rummy raisin juice in the bowl.  Hum that in too.

Spoon your batter into your prepared Bundt pan, then smooth out the top with your spatula.

Bake in the preheated over for 55 to 60 minutes or until a long wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.  Mine actually took closer to 70 minutes.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool completely on a cake plate.

When the cake is completely cool, put the honey, rum and butter for the glaze into a saucepan.  Turn on the fire on low and mix together as the butter melts.  It may already start to bubble.

After a minute or so the fumes from the rum should have evaporated and you can turn the heat up a little.  We don’t want a fire here, folks.  Boil the mixture for three to four minutes, stirring constantly.  If you have a candy thermometer, you are looking to reach a temperature 240-248°F or 115-120°C.  If you don’t have a candy thermometer, not to worry.

Remove from heat and stir to cool slightly.  Not too long or the glaze will begin to harden and you will have to eat it like candy and start over.  While I realize that many of you won’t have a problem with this, I just wanted to warn you.

Use a spoon to ladle the glaze over your completely cooled cake.  Do not poke it with your fingertips because you will leave print marks behind in the shiny, shiny glaze.

Give this cake to someone who deserves a special treat or share it with someone you love.   Because it’s just that wonderful.

Enjoy!

BundtaMonth is the brainchild of Anuradha of Baker Street and Lora of Cake Duchess.  And they would love for you to join us.

Have a look at all the lovely boozy Bundts we have baked this month!

Araby Spice-Limoncello Bundt Cake with Limoncello Glaze by Lora from Cake Duchess

Bailey's and Buttershots Bundt Cake by Karen from In The Kitchen With KP

Banana Pineapple Bundt Cake with Coconut Rum Glaze by Carrie from Poet In The Pantry

Chocolate Bourbon Mini Bundt by Holly from A Baker's House

Chocolate Port Bundt Cake by Paula from Vintage Kitchen

Eggnog Rum Pound Cake by Dorothy from Shockingly Delicious

Madeira Pound Bundt Cake by Renee from Magnolia Days

Mint Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake with Creme de Menthe by Laura from The Spiced Life

Shirley Temple Bundt Cake Kim Beaulieu | Cravings Of A Lunatic

Spiked Eggnog Bundt Cake with Bourbon Glaze by Kate from Food Babbles

Sweet Potato Bourbon Bundt by Jennie from The Messy Baker Blog

Long Island Iced TeaCake by Deb from Knitstamatic

Rum and Raisin Butter Bundt with Rum Honey Glaze by Stacy from Food Lust People Love

Tiramisu Bundt Cake with Kahlúa Mascarpone Glaze by Anuradha from Baker Street

Vanilla and Bourbon Cake by Kate from Diet Hood

Vanilla Mini Bundt Cakes with Kahlúa by Alice from Hip Foodie Mom

Here's how you can be a part of Bundt-a-Month:

- Get inspired by your favorite cocktail, mocktail or just use your favorite liqueur and bake us a Bundt for Boozy December.

- Post it before December 31, 2012.

- Use the #BundtAMonth hashtag in your title. (For ex: title should read #BundtAMonth: Chocolate Cinnamon Bundt)

- Add your entry to the Linky tool below

- Link back to both Lora and Anuradha’s announcement posts.

 

Follow Bundt-a-Month on Facebook where we feature all our gorgeous Bundt cakes. Or head over to our Pinterest board for inspiration and choose from over 350 Bundt cake recipes.