Turkey, chestnut & cider pie - surprised us all!

The flavour of the turkey used in this pie filling matched up perfectly with the thyme and cider, to create a beautiful sauce/gravy that was embellished by the addition of the cream.  The sweetness of many of the ingredients was tempered by the strength of flavour from the turkey leg meat, earthiness of the carrots and lightness of the celery.


Mistakenly, I left the chestnuts whole (should have halved or sliced them), which gave a bit too much chestnut per mouthful - but it was a simple job to just cut them in half as you went.  Using them to scoop up a dollop of that lovely gravy, they were just divine.


This pie certainly surprised hubby, in that the bit he was most dubious about (the cider gravy) was the bit he liked the most, whereas the bit he wasn't too bothered about (the meat), was the bit he liked the least!

For son & heir, he was surprised at liking it at all - and he ate every little bit of it, including the sliced mushrooms.

Pie filling, all ready to have its pastry lid - delicious!

For me, I knew I'd like it and indeed I wasn't wrong.  The surprise for me was at the poor quality of the Turkey leg meat that I'd bought.

I'd been sent a pack of Asda's turkey thigh meat, previously, which had appeared to be in a very dodgy condition once defrosted.  So, I'd gone out and replaced it with exactly the same (but with a better "use by" date!) - 600g of diced turkey thigh.

Now I don't use pre-diced meat like this ordinarily.  I'd rather buy a couple of turkey thighs and dice the meat up myself, so it is quite probable that every pack of pre-diced meat is the same, but I wouldn't have expected to have had to go over every little piece to remove the veins, gristle and fat.  I had to with this pack!  Some of the pieces of meat were gut-churning because of what they had attached to them.  Lord, if I'd have just thrown it into the pan and cooked it, only for it to have then arrived on hubby's plate, he'd have turned vegetarian there and then.

Aside from that, the quality of the meat when cooked was so random that I had pieces cooked perfectly adequately and were tender to the bite, but others were just like bits of india-rubber.  I am sure they would have required a minimum of an hour's cooking to have rendered them even near to being tender.  How can you cook a pie filling satisfactorily, if the meat doesn't cook through at the same rate?  Impossible.

As for the flavour of the meat - well that isn't in question, as it was really lovely.  Everybody was in agreement that the flavour of the filling was exceptional and the whole thing would have been perfect, if the meat had have been tender throughout.  Of course, the flavour was helped along by the lovely Essential Cuisine's Chicken Stock powder, which can't help but make a gravy delicious.

So I just don't know, really, what the answer is.  Apart from to recommend using turkey breast in the pie filling - which is reflected in the recipe below.  However, I can't help but feel that this is something of a copout, as a pie is a vehicle for a cheaper cut of meat - and turkey thigh is perfect.  However, not if the quality is going to be so random!

I'd definitely like to use turkey more often as it is high in protein but low in fat and will be investigating what turkey meat products are available through our local butcher, not just the supermarket.  However, for more turkey ideas - and information on turkey generally - why not go along to Lean on Turkey and have a bit of a browse.


TURKEY, CHESTNUT & CIDER PIE    (serves 4)

Ingredients :

1 onion, diced
350g turkey breast meat, cubed
2 medium carrots, peeled & sliced fine
2 celery sticks, de-stringed & diced finely
125g chestnut mushrooms, cleaned & sliced
225g chestnuts, halved
300ml dry cider
150ml chicken stock (I used Essential Cuisine's stock powder, so added a little more than was necessary for 150ml, just to boost the flavour a little).
2 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
4 tbsp double cream
1 egg yolk
150g (approx) puff pastry.

METHOD :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 200degC/400degF/gas 6.

2.  Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed saucepan and cook the onion until just soft but not coloured.

3.  Add the mushrooms and continue to cook, on a higher heat, for a few minutes.

4.  Add the turkey meat and continue to cook until it has all changed colour.

5.  Add the celery and carrots, chestnuts and thyme and mix well.  Season.

6.  Once the vegetables have all warmed through, add the cider and chicken stock.  Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes or until the gravy reaches a suitable consistency.

7.  Reduce the heat and add the cream.  Stir through, then leave to cool slightly.

8.  Decant into your pie dish and brush the outer edge of the dish with the egg yolk.

9.  Place the (rolled out) pastry on top and press the edges down onto the rim of the dish.  Trim off the excess pastry and press the tip of a knife all around the edge to finalise the seam.

10.  Cut a hole in the centre of the pie for the steam to escape, then give the whole pastry top an egg wash for a lovely shiny finish.

11.  Bake for some 15-25 minutes, or until the pastry is golden and the filling is discernibly hot and bubbling.

Serve with steamed vegetables of your choice.

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Menu planning for Bacon Connoisseur's Week - shouldn't be difficult!

Bacon, bacon - what would we do without the stuff?  How on earth do people cope, who don't eat bacon?  Come to that, how do vegetarians stay vegetarian, when there's bacon in the world?  I know I didn't.  I spent a year and a half being vegetarian after the traumatic time of having my first horse put to sleep.  Put me off meat in a big way, that did.  However, I was won over by the promise of a bacon & egg sandwich.  Oooh, but it was good!

So this week is Bacon Connoisseur's Week, but before I get into describing the bacony loveliness that we're indulging in, a few words about the end of last week.

We had my parents over for Sunday lunch on Mothering Sunday, which was very nice indeed and it was lovely to see them outside of their house - as we always seem to be going over there!  Hubby was in charge of the catering on the day, to save my stress levels from soaring and (potentially) making me feel worse than I currently do.  He did a sterling job, cooking them his signature Risotto - this time it was a Bacon & Asparagus risotto, which is one of our favourites.  We were tempted to do the Bramley Apple, Bacon & Black Pudding risotto, but didn't know how they might react to black pudding, so erred on the side of caution.  The Bacon & Asparagus version is always completely gorgeous though - and everyone presented cleaned plates at the end of the meal, so I think they agreed.

I'd made a lovely big retro trifle for dessert - a strawberry & raspberry sherry version.  Quite apart from being completely mouthwatering and retrospective, it had the advantage that it could be made beforehand and just be waiting in the fridge for its moment in the sun.  I'll be blogging the recipe, so I won't go into detail here.

Thinking on, we started Bacon Connoisseur's Week early, with our Sunday lunch of Bacon & Asparagus Risotto!

So, what's on the menu for the coming week then?  Here you go :

Tues : Bacon & Leek Pasta

Wed : Petuba Canneloni with salad

Thur : Hoisin Chicken and noodles

Fri : Takeaway or eat out

Sat : Sausage croissants with potato wedges

Sun : Turkey & Chestnut Cider Pie with mashed potato, green beans & broccoli

Mon : to be confirmed!

Good old Bacon & Leek Pasta.  It's a favourite standby recipe that gets trotted out when I want a meal that's easy to prepare.  It just so happened that I haven't yet got around to blogging this stalwart of a recipe and because it's Bacon Connoisseur's Week, it seemed like a good place to start.

Tonight's Petuba Canneloni is a recipe that has primarily been dreamt up by hubby - so I've left him to cope with all the processes that are involved.  Petuba?  You're wondering about the name, aren't you.  I know I would be! Well, it's an amalgamation.  You see, the stuffing for the canneloni will involve Peppadew PEppers, TUrkey breast steaks and BAcon, all held together with Ricotta cheese.  Pe-tu-ba, see?  This recipe fits very nicely in with two promotions that are being conducted at the moment - the "I love British Turkey" and Bacon Connoisseur's Week.

In conjunction with "I love British Turkey" I was recently sent some turkey products and the Peppadew peppers, to work with and concoct some yummy recipes.  So if turkey keeps on popping up in the menu plans, you know why!

Thursday's dinner breaks free from all influences of bacon or turkey and we're satisfying my craving for Hoisin sauce.  Currently, we're having terrible trouble finding a tin of water chestnuts, but hopefully we'll have tracked one down by tomorrow.  I was sure I'd bought water chestnuts from Asda on previous occasions, but neither of us could find any trace of any such thing there yesterday.  A shame, because I absolutely love water chestnuts and they will provide lovely crunchiness along with soft chicken and noodles, baby sweetcorn and mange tout.

Angus Young - for those who don't know!

Son & heir is involved in a concert at his school - a "We will rock you" type concert where he's playing guitar and singing - so there is lots of after school rehearsals going on, increasing in intensity the closer we get to concert day.  Hence, Friday is the big dress rehearsal and we've no idea when it is likely to grind to a halt, so that's definitely a "no cook" day.  He's dressing up as Angus Young (from AC/DC) and there's been no end of anguish over his costume, but I think we've cracked it now, with judicious use of safety pins and a lucky strike where a hat was concerned.

He is also appearing as part of the choir, which requires him to wear black & white - and a jacket.  Well that jacket has been harder to source than anything else.  Even so, we've wound up with a very dark navy jacket that's just going to have to do.  School seems to think we're all made of money and can just go out and buy a brand new black jacket just for the concert, but I'm afraid life's not that easy!

Sort of like this - except prettier!

Saturday sees the return of Sausage Croissants which got bumped from last week's menu list before it even hit publication - where you use frozen croissant dough and spread it with chutney before wrapping around a part-cooked sausage, then baking.  I thought it looked like a nice variation on a sausage roll idea - and we all like sausage rolls!  I shall be having coleslaw with mine and I expect the chaps will be happy with potato wedges with theirs.  A suitable Saturday meal, I thought.

Sunday brings a return to creating meals with British Turkey.  I was sent a pack of cubed turkey leg meat, which was saying either "stew" or "pie" to me.  The stew option seemed too easy and too obvious, whereas the pie option seemed to be a little more challenging where the potential for additional flavours was concerned.  I'm currently aiming for a pie filling involving the turkey along with some chestnuts, carrots, mushrooms and a little celery, all held within a light but creamy cider gravy or sauce, under a puff pastry lid.  Looking at it there, it sounds lovely - so I'm fairly hopeful.

Monday is the day before the big concert, so we're leaving that day's meal open at the moment, as we don't really know what's going to happen with regard to rehearsals.  We'll plan that one over the weekend, I think, once we've got a better picture of what's happening.

Hey!  You'll never guess what?  I made the Dorset Apple Cake!  I know - what a surprise, eh?  Well, I shall be blogging that recipe, too - so I'll leave it at "yum with cream!" for now.

As for incidental bakes and makes this week, well I have some muffin baking to do.  Waay back when, I made some completely gorgeous Bacon & Cheese muffins that were just divine for breakfast, coffee time - any time, really.  They aren't cheap to make - not as an incidental make - but are very worth it.  I was amazed to find (when I was planning bacon posts) that I hadn't blogged the results, so they were definitely going to be made this week.

Lastly, we were given some lovely Zinfandel wine by the folk at Barefoot Wines, with which to make a Mother's Day cocktail.  Well, between one thing and another, we completely failed to make it for Mother's Day, but we'll very definitely be making it some time this week.  Involving strawberries, zinfandel and gin, I'm only amazed we haven't got to it sooner!

So, with a rousing chorus of "We are the champions", let's head off into Turkey and Bacon week - with a large seasoning of Queen hits for good measure!

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