Everyone loves pie! Blueberry pie. Pizza pie. Steak and kidney pie. Chicken pot pie! It’s not as ‘boring’ as some of the other foods in our home. My daughter gets to bake, again. Meanwhile, I strongly believe we must continue to minimize the ‘displacing foods of modern commerce.’ Offally Creamy and Delicious Chicken Pot Pie is a hearty and nourishing meal to please all of us.
The displacing food of modern commerce
Sally Fallon’s recent article Foodways of the Austrialian Outback shares the story of a found Australian cookbook. She notes, “The recipes therein epitomize the diets of English-speaking and European countries right up to the Second World War: plenty of meat, organ meats and broth, but also tons of sugar.”
This is something I’ve observed even in my grandmother‘s home. She loved and served all the traditional foods, but also plenty of sweets. Over time, it seems that my mom’s generation ditched the traditional foods for convenience. Certainly, our culture has an affinity for the rest.
Yet, Fallon noted that many of these post-war children, like my mom, managed to fair pretty well. Using the whole animal went a long way to mitigate the damage of refined foods. And she reminds us of Weston A. Price’s words:
Our difficulty is that we are adding too much white flour and sugar and do not get enough of the foods that carry the minerals and vitamins [emphasis added].
I hear this. My takeaway is that even as refined foods are consumed, I can and will continue to promote meat, organ meats, broth, and healthy fats at every turn.
In practice: teenhood and novelty
While my kids were young, it was pretty easy to keep white flour and sugar out of the home. For many years, we bought wheat, milled it fresh and made sourdough bread. I had a jar of honey that lasted me several years. My kids were pretty much completely unaware of other options; we just didn’t have them.
In the meantime, more opportunities are available for food outside the home. For my oldest especially, this seems far more exciting than ‘real food’ – the kind without packaging or UPC codes, the kind on the perimeter of the grocery store. Sigh.
Maybe it has to do with dopamine-changes in the teenage brain and novelty-seeking. According to Dan Seigel in his book Brainstorm: The power and purpose of the teenage brain, these brain changes give teens the courage to leave the comforts of home and walk into the unfamiliar and uncertain world beyond. Yet, it also means more risk-taking… where risk partially depends on family values and what could challenge them!
Regardless, if the siren call is here – begging for something beyond simple dinners of meat and vegetable and perhaps rice. Well, be assured I’m going to find a way to add organ meats or broth, and far more fat than the recipe calls for, into all of it.
Offally Creamy and Delicious Chicken Pot Pie
This recipe was adapted from another Cook’s Illustrated recipe. Now that I purchased the online version, I’ve been exploring the site with my daughter and she’s been itching to make a pie. Truthfully, except for chopping the offal, she spent the good part of a Saturday preparing these pies for our family. I sat on a chair in the kitchen with my feet up, reading and occasionally challenging her math as she doubled the recipe.
Oh, and it was never chicken. I roasted a huge turkey with the intention of having several meals, including ample filling and broth for this pie. But Chicken Pot Pie sounds better, no?
I feel certain that my kids will miss ‘real food’ like homemade menudo and braised meats when they leave our home – it’s hard to come by outside and it does take a bit of time or know-how or both. Yet, in the meantime, they are learning to prepare these foods themselves. And they are learning that they can take any regular meal and make it a bit more nutrient-dense.
No one protested the liver, heart and gizzard in this. It really was an Offally Creamy and Delicious Chicken Pot Pie.
Offally Creamy and Delicious Pot Pie
Notes
Chicken and turkey are interchangeable in this recipe.
Instead of using the raw turkey pluck - liver, heart, gizzards from one bird - substitute with one cup of any chopped poultry offal.
To skip any pinkish 'discoloring' to pie filling (if you don't prefer that or are hiding offal), I suggest poaching offal briefly before adding to recipe. Or using cooked leftovers.
Ingredients
- 2 pie crusts, for a 9-inch pan
- 4 T butter
- 1 onion, chopped fine
- 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
- 2 celery sticks, chopped
- 1/2 t salt
- 1/2 t pepper
- 6 T flour
- 2 1/4 c chicken or turkey broth
- 1/2 c cream
- 1 small russet potato, chopped
- 3 t fresh thyme, chopped
- 3 cups leftover turkey meat, shredded
- raw turkey liver, heart, gizzards, trimmed and chopped
- 1 c frozen peas
- 1 egg, beaten
Instructions
- Roll pie dough out into 12" circles, place one in pan and one on parchment-lined baking sheet, cover both with plastic wrap and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Warm butter in a large saucepan or pot over medium heat. When melted, add onions, celery, carrots, salt and pepper and let soften for 6 minutes. Next, add flour and mix well for another minute or two until starting to brown. Add the broth and cream and turn up heat to medium high. (It will look like soup at this point, but do not despair!) Once the mixture has come to a boil, reduce heat to medium and add potatoes and thyme. While potatoes cook, the mixture will reduce; cook for ~8 minutes until the sauce is thick. Remove from heat and add turkey meat, offal, and peas. Stir to combine well.
- Meanwhile, remove pie dough from fridge. Pour filling into dough-lined pie pan. Then cover with second pie dough. Press edges together, trim excess beyond 1/2-inch, and fold this extra under onto the rim of the pie pan. Crimp these thickened edges around the pie using hands. Next, add 4 slits (for steam to escape) in the top of the pie. Finally, brush your egg wash over the top of the pie.
- Place pie on baking sheet and then into preheated 450 degree oven. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until lightly golden. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for another 12-15 minutes, until crust is beautifully golden brown.
- Let pie rest for 45 minutes. Seriously. 45 minutes. (I'm sorry, but you will be delighted at how thick and creamy it is as it sets. Plus, you won't burn your mouth.) Enjoy!
Leave a Reply