GF Poultry Pot Pie

December 9, 2010

Slice of turkey pot pie

One of the neat things about joining up with a blog carnival is getting to see all the wonderful recipes other bloggers submit. This is one of those recipes I found when I posted my sourdough dinner roll recipe on last Monday Mania’s blog carnival. This recipe took me back to those long-ago Thanksgivings when my kids were little and I used to make pot pies out of the leftover turkey. Of course, back then I didn’t have a clue as to real nutrition, though I thought I was doing great things by cooking from scratch. So, even when I’d put the last of this year’s Thanksgiving turkey in the freezer after numerous turkey meals, I pulled it back out when I saw this pot pie recipe. I was especially attracted to it because of the almond flour crust. I am always looking for recipes that don’t use grain, in my effort to limit (and hopefully, eliminate) grains from our diet1. This recipe looked like something I could handle, and since I wasn’t quite ready to deal with the lamb shoulder roast I had thawing, I decided to go for it. I have made some adjustments, partly because of what I had on hand and partly because of how I like my pot pie. The original recipe can be found here, at Scratch.Love’s blog. I encourage you to go check it out. She has some awesome, good-for-you recipes there, along with some beautiful pics! You can also follow her on Facebook. This is the recipe the way I made it, though I doubled the recipe and subbed the word “poultry” where I used turkey. (The following recipe is for 1 pot pie)

Poultry Pot Pie
makes one 9″ pot pie

Filling:

1 1/2 cups poultry, diced
1 1/2 cups homemade poultry broth
1 1/2 cups sweet potatoes, diced
1 cup onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 cup frozen organic corn (exclude for grain-free version)
1 cup frozen organic green beans, cut up
1 tsp garlic powder (original calls for garlic clove)
1 Tbs coconut oil or ghee (I used half of each)
1 Tbs arrowroot powder
1 Tbs water (I used cold stock)
2 tsp ground basil (original was parsley, but I’m all out)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garam masala (original recipe uses poultry seasoning)
1 tsp all purpose seasoning
1/2 tsp green peppercorns, ground

Crust
(Adapted from a recipe by Elana Amsterdam in The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook)

2 cups blanched almond flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
1/4 cup water
1 tsp coconut oil, melted (I used ghee)
1 tsp parsley (again, I used basil)
1 tsp all purpose seasoning
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

Dice raw vegetables and meat. I have to add here, I picked up this great tip from Real Food in Little Rock’s blog (also from Monday Mania) for an easy way to chop onions.
diced onion and celery
diced sweet potato
green beans and corn
diced turkey
My turkey was a mix of white and dark that was partly frozen when I chopped it up.
In a pan, melt the coconut oil or ghee. Add the onions, celery and sweet potatoes and cook until onions are soft. Add the poultry stock and spices to your vegetable mixture.
veggies simmering in stock with spices
Simmer on low while you make the crust.

In a bowl combine all ingredients. Divide mixture in half and form each into a ball. (Mine is 4, because I doubled the recipe)
dough for crust
Put dough in freezer for at least 5 minutes to chill. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! (Unless, like me, you need a lesson in patience) Take one ball out and place between two sheets of waxed paper/parchment paper. Roll into something resembling a circle.
roll dough between sheets of waxed paper
Carefully transfer to a 9″ pie plate and trim the edges.
bottom crust
Cook at 375o for 12-15 minutes or until slightly brown. While crust is baking, add poultry and partially thawed corn and green beans to stock/veggie mix and heat through. Mix together arrowroot powder with the water. Pour the arrowroot mixture into the pie filling and blend well. When pie crust is done, remove from oven, cool slightly, then spoon reduced filling into the crust.
filled crust
Take the remaining dough from freezer and roll into another circle. Place on top of the pie, removing extra dough around edges. Though the original recipe didn’t call for it, I cut some openings in the crust for steam to escape.
top crust
Put on top of a cookie sheet and placeĀ into the oven at 375o for 20-30 minutes or until desired doneness. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before serving.
Poultry pot pie
This was so yummy and wonderfully savory. Thanks, Scratch.Love!

Update:
This post was done when we were working on being gluten-free, but have since gone grain-free. I made this today as a beef pot pie. I had a little trouble with the top crust, but it still tasted great! This time I eliminated the corn and used sweet potatoes and butternut squash (cubed) and some green beans along with some leftover roast beef. I used the au jus from the roast, which gave it a nice richness, and also used fresh whey for the water in the crust recipe. I found it gave the crust a little more depth of flavors. I’ll be working on incorporating more whey where liquids are called for, so I don’t have to keep pouring it out on my plants. (Formerly, I used it a lot in baking, but I’m not doing much baking now)
Beef pot pie:
beef pot pie

This post is part of the Real Food Wednesdays blog carnival.
This post is part of Fight Back Fridays blog carnival hosted by Food Renegade.

1 I personally believe grains are not unhealthy when properly prepared and cooked. I do believe they can be a problem for people with compromised health. While we have health issues we are still working on, for which I’d like to eliminate grains, I believe one day we will be able to enjoy them in moderation.

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