Turkey and Vegetable Pot Pies

My kids will eat almost anything if it arrives under a lid of golden, crunchy pastry. That’s the whole trick with these turkey pot pies. Underneath is shredded turkey, soft seasonal veg and a creamy leek and cashew sauce, and on top is scrunched filo that goes shatteringly crisp in the oven. No one at my table has ever asked where the cream is.

This one comes from the Golden Door at home cookbook, and I’ve been making it on repeat through the colder months. It looks like a fussy dinner-party job, but most of it is done ahead. That’s the only reason it survives a school week in my house.

Here’s how a real weeknight goes for me. I poach the turkey and blitz the sauce on a Sunday, when there’s a spare hour and someone else is watching the kids. Then on a Tuesday, when everyone’s tired and hungry and homework is only half done, all I’m doing is layering things into little dishes and scrunching pastry on top. Fifteen minutes in the oven and dinner is on the table. The difference between a good week and a chaotic one, in my experience, is usually just what I did with my hands on Sunday.

It makes eight pies, which sounds like a lot until you realise how handy the spare ones are. I bake what we need for dinner and stash the rest, unbaked, for the nights I walk in the door with nothing planned. That freezer stash has rescued me more times than I can count. My youngest calls them the crunchy pies, and if that’s what gets vegetables into him without a negotiation, I’ll take it.

Ingredients

• 1 kg turkey breast and leg
• 2 litres chicken stock
• 1/2 cup fresh herbs such as sage, thyme, rosemary and parsley, roughly chopped
• 500 g finely chopped seasonal vegetables such as mushrooms, carrots and corn
• Leek and cashew sauce (see recipe below)
• 200 g finely chopped kale
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary and parsley
• 8 sheets of filo pastry
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

To serve

• Crisp green salad
• Steamed seasonal vegetables

Creamy Leek and Cashew Sauce (makes 1.2 litres)

• 500 g leek, white part only, finely chopped
• 6 cloves of roasted garlic (see Basic Recipes)
• 100 g raw cashew nuts
• 750 mls chicken or turkey stock
• 1 tbls horseradish sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180oC.
2. Place turkey in a deep ovenproof dish, add the stock and the herbs and cover tightly with foil. Bake for 1 hour or until cooked through. Leave the oven on. Allow to cool slightly, then shred the turkey meat using a fork, reserving the cooking stock to make the leek and cashew sauce.
3. Place chopped vegetables in a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of stock or water and sauté for about 5 minutes until softened. Set aside.
4. Gently reheat the leek and cashew sauce. Place a little leek and cashew sauce in the base of 8 pot pie dishes (approximately 1 cup capacity). Add some turkey, sautéed vegetables, kale, a sprinkle of herbs, then a little more sauce. Repeat the process until all turkey and vegetables are used up.
5. Lightly brush each sheet of filo with egg and scrunch pastry on top of pie. Bake for about 15 minutes until pastry is golden. Serve with a salad or fresh seasonal vegetables.

For the leek and cashew sauce

1. Sauté the garlic, leeks and cashews in 2 tablespoons of the stock until tender. Gradually add the rest of the stock. Cool for 5 minutes. Transfer to a blender, add horseradish and blend until smooth, season with salt and pepper.

Makes 8 pies.

Make-ahead, serving and swaps

This is a proper make-ahead dinner, which is the only reason it earns a spot in my weeknight rotation. Poach and shred the turkey a day early, and make the leek and cashew sauce at the same time so it’s cold and ready in the fridge. When you get to the fiddly bit of building the pies, half the job is already done.

A few things I’ve learned from making these too many times to count. Chop your vegetables small and even so they cook through in that quick oven window. Keep the shredded turkey moist by tossing it with a spoonful of the reserved poaching stock before it goes in. And don’t skimp on the herbs; a good handful of thyme and parsley is what stops the whole thing tasting flat.

The cashew sauce is what makes these feel rich without a drop of dairy, so they’re a good option if someone at the table is dairy free. It’s the same reason I lean on nuts and seeds in a lot of our snacks, like these raw chia energy bars. If you’d rather use up whatever’s in the crisper, the vegetables are flexible. Swap the mushrooms, carrots and corn for pumpkin, leek or peas, and stir through extra greens if you’ve got them wilting in the fridge. The kale can become silverbeet or baby spinach without anyone noticing, and on a night I’m really scraping the barrel I’ve been known to use frozen peas and corn straight from the bag.

Assembled unbaked pies freeze well. I top them with filo, freeze them on a tray, then bake straight from the freezer with a few extra minutes on the clock. If you’re baking from cold rather than frozen, they only need that fifteen minutes to crisp up and warm through. Serve with a simple salad or a tray of roast vegetables and you’ve got dinner sorted. Turkey is a lean protein, and building a plate around vegetables and wholefoods is a sensible everyday habit; Nutrition Australia has plenty of straightforward advice on balancing meals if you like a bit of guidance. And if the little ones only want to eat the pastry lid first, honestly, I’ve made my peace with that.

— Nicole Barnes, Golden Door Living kitchen