How-To: Pickles Eh! Turkey Dinner Handpies

I love pie.  And a pie that you can easily take with you,  and that is filled with meat, is awesome. 

When I first tasted Pickles Eh! Cranberry Apple Chutney, I knew this was the dish I wanted to make. 

Turkey Dinner Handpies

Print Recipe

Pickles Eh! Cranberry Apple Chutney goes beautifully with Turkey and all the trimmings. You can trace the origins of hand pies back to at least 19th-century England, where they were a convenient lunch for Cornish tin miners. The pastry casing, as the story goes, was a convenient way to keep the filling warm and free of dirt; miners would hold the edges, eat the inside and discard the dough when they were done. Or you can eat it with a knife and fork at your desk in your office. Your choice. A few notes about this dish. First, there are a few steps in this dish so it's not something you can just whip up in 30 min and have for dinner. That said, if you have the time make a double batch. Then you can keep some pies in the freezer for a quick dinner or and easy to pack lunch. Second, I used a bone-in turkey thigh for this dish - which I then de-boned, skinned, and diced. If you can find skinless/boneless turkey thighs, go for it. If you can't find turkey thighs, you can use ground turkey, or chicken thighs. If your poultry is boneless, you need about 300g.

• CourseMain Dish, Snacks

Servings

8 pies

Servings 8 pies

Turkey Dinner Handpies Print Recipe Pickles Eh! Cranberry Apple Chutney goes beautifully with Turkey and all the trimmings. You can trace the origins of hand pies back to at least 19th-century England, where they were a convenient lunch for Cornish tin miners. The pastry casing, as the story goes, was a convenient way to keep the filling warm and free of dirt; miners would hold the edges, eat the inside and discard the dough when they were done. Or you can eat it with a knife and fork at your desk in your office. Your choice. A few notes about this dish. First, there are a few steps in this dish so it's not something you can just whip up in 30 min and have for dinner. That said, if you have the time make a double batch. Then you can keep some pies in the freezer for a quick dinner or and easy to pack lunch. Second, I used a bone-in turkey thigh for this dish - which I then de-boned, skinned, and diced. If you can find skinless/boneless turkey thighs, go for it. If you can't find turkey thighs, you can use ground turkey, or chicken thighs. If your poultry is boneless, you need about 300g. CourseMain Dish, Snacks Servings 8 pies Servings 8 pies

Ingredients

Pastry

• 2 cups all purpose flour plus more for rolling
• 1 cup butter/shortening either or both, cold and diced.
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• ice water up to 1 cup

Filling

• 1 turkey thigh (bone-in) about 400g
• a few drops Worcester Sauce
• 8 tbsp (or more) Pickles Eh! Cranberry Apple Chutney
• 1/2 medium onion finely diced
• 1 small yukon gold potato finely diced
• butternut squash same quantity as potato, finely diced
• 1/2 granny smith peeled, seeded, and finely diced
• 8 green beans trimmed and diced
• 2 small carrots peeled and diced
• 6-8 fresh sage leaves finely chopped
• 1 egg
• salt
• pepper
• neutral cooking oil

Servings: pies

Instructions

Make the Pastry

1. Pastry needs to cool before it can be used. Often, if I know I am making pies later in the day, I will put the pastry together first thing in the morning while I am waiting for the kettle to boil. That way it has plenty of time to chill.
2. Pastry is about feel and texture. Once you get a sense of how it should feel, you will be able to make fail-proof pastry in minutes. Before you begin, notice if your hands are warm or cold. If your hands are cold, you're ready to begin. If they are warm, run them under some cold water to bring their temp down. You want cold hands so you don't melt the butter/shortening. It's the clumps of cold butter/shortening melting in the oven that create flakiness in pastry.
3. Measure the dry ingredients into a large bowl. If you know you like things salty you can add a bit more salt and reduce the sugar a bit (don't eliminate it altogether as sugar adds colour when the pies bake). Alternatively if you are using this pastry to make a sweet pie you can lessen the salt and add more sugar. (Don't eliminate all the salt because it adds great flavour)
4. Add the butter/shortening. You can use either or both. Shortening makes for a flakier pastry but butter enhances the flavour more. That's why I like both. Generally I would use 3/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup shortening, but there's no hard and fast rule. Use what you have in the quantities you prefer. As for salted/unsalted butter, I always use salted butter because I love salt. If you prefer unsalted, that's fine too. When working the butter/shortening into the flour, use your fingertips. You don't want the butter/shortening to melt. Break apart the butter/shortening until the pieces are no bigger than the size of pecans.
5. Once you have an even texture throughout, add the water. Add it in small amounts mixing together with your hand. You want all the flour to be incorporated but you don't want the dough to be wet. It will still be sticky.
6. Dust your counter or a large board with flour. Tip the pastry out onto the flour and knead a little bit. The goal is to bring the pastry together so it is smoother and not crumbly, but not to warm up the butter/shortening too much. Work quickly. Too much kneading will make the pastry tough. Form the pastry into a ball, flatten it into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Filling and Assembly

1. Dice/chop all of your filling ingredients ahead of time, starting with the turkey. Once the turkey is diced, put it in a small bowl, add a few drops of Worcester sauce, season with salt and pepper, stir, cover, and refrigerate. This will make assembly go more quickly. You want everything to be small so you don't have to use a knife and fork. This is a hand pie, after all. Also, chopping the turkey is in small pieces ensures it cooks thoroughly.

   
2. Set all the filling ingredients aside and take your pastry out of the fridge. Dust your counter or a large board with flour and roll the pastry out to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. DO NOT roll the dough thinner than this or it will not hold the filling.
3. Cut the pastry into 6 inch circles. Use a bowl or plate to measure and cut around it with a paring knife. Try to re-roll as little as possible. When you do re-roll, try not to handle the pastry too much. You should have 8 pastry circles. Stack them on a dinner plate with plastic wrap between each layer and refrigerate for 30 min while you finish the filling. Depending on how thin/thick you rolled the dough, you may have to make the last circle smaller. I call that the 'tasting pie.'

   
4. Preheat the oven to 425°.
5. Slick a pan with oil and heat over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook for 3-4 min until they are soft and translucent. Then add the potato and squash. Cook for about 5-7 min. You are only aiming to partially cook them. Add the apple and sage leaves and cook for 1-2 min more. Remove from heat and let cool.

   
6. Arrange the pastry circles on parchment lined baking sheets. Leaving a good edge to seal the pastry together, spread 1 tbsp of Pickles Eh! Cranberry Apple Chutney on each circle. Then, dividing the filling ingredients evenly between the circles, add the potato mixture, the beans and carrots, and finally the turkey.

   
7. In a small bowl, beat the egg and add 1 tsp of water. With a pastry brush, dampen the edges of the circles and draw up over the filling to make half-moons. Press edges to seal and then crimp them. Brush the top with egg. Make a small slit in the top of each pie.

   
8. Bake for 15 min to set the pastry. Lower the oven temp to 350° and bake for another 30 min, or until nicely browned.

   
9. Serve hot, warm, or cold!

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