For the pot pie marathon this year I made 3 double batches of pie crust and cooked my filling in two large stockpots with a gallon of liquid each. It’s quite an endeavor but I’ll have a winter of Thursdays off.
Pie Crust- (single batch)
6 ounces all-purpose flour
4 ounces unsalted Eurpoean style butter
1 teaspoon sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3-4 tablespoons ice water
Combine flour, sugar, salt and cold butter cut into chunks in a bowl. Work the butter into the flour by dragging your thumb in a sideways motion across your fingers forming flat flakes of butter and flour. When it is all worked in, sprinkle the water over the mixture and work it in one tablespoon at a time until the mixture forms a ball. Chill 2-4 hours and roll out.
Pot Pie filling
1 cup unsalted butter, per pot
2 cups canola oil, per pot
2 large leeks, cleaned and chopped
5 carrots, chopped
6 ribs celery, chopped
8 ounces mushrooms, chopped
1 quart Brussels sprouts, cleaned and quartered
4 cups all-purpose flour, per pot
7 pounds cooked turkey, diced
1 bunch parsley, chopped
1 bunch thyme leaves, removed from stems
1 gallon milk,
4 quarts chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons herbs de Provence in each pot
Divide all ingredients between two large stock pots.
Melt together butter and canola oil. Stir in flour and cook 3-5 minutes over medium heat. Add vegetables and herbs and cook over medium heat until soft. Add liquid gradually and stir vigorously to prevent lumps . (it helps if you can preheat the milk or broth to a simmer) Cook over medium heat until thickened and bubbly.Taste and adjust seasonings. If it’s cold outside you can cool the mixture right in the pots, if not then dispense into your pie tins and refrigerate until chilled. Cover with pie dough, wrap in foil and freeze.
When you are ready to use the pies, bake at 350 F for an hour or until bubbly.
This year, I got 42 pies and to give you some idea of a more accurate volume of vegetables, a 6 liter container was crammed full to the brim with about 1/2 cup more leeks on the side.
I highly recommend chopping all the veg and meat on one day, and prepping your pie dough the day before you are ready to assemble. For containers I used 12 large ramekins, 12 pot pie tins, and the rest were those small loaf tins. I only use a top crust as these are a marathon as it is.
Last year’s pies were too thin (1 cup flour in each pot) and I predict this years pies will be too thick (4 cups flour per pot) so I suspect I’ll be tweaking further next year. By then we should have votes in on whether we prefer the milk base or the broth base. It’s always an adventure!
