Cooking: Turkey Pie and 'Perky Turkey'

 Turkey is the king of meats on Christmas day, but if I'm honest, I have never been a fan of eating the leftovers. The breast meat can often be quite dry and the dark meat has a gamey flavour that always surprises me at how strong it is. This year I thought I'd try a coupe of different recipes from the usual sliced turkey or turkey curry.

Turkey Pie
The first recipe I made was a Turkey pie, loosely inspired by this recipe, but heavily adapted to what I had in the fridge. It was a great tasting pie that was simple to make and my favourite of the two turkey dishes I made.

Serves 4/5

Ingredients:
Four rashers of bacon
Large onion, diced
Mushrooms, sliced
Glass of white wine
Two/three of handfuls of cooked turkey, diced
Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pinch of mixed dried herbs

For the pastry:
200g flour
100g butter
2 tbsp of cold water
1 egg (for the glaze)

Method:
Chop the bacon and fry it in a pan. When it is cooked remove it from the pan and add the diced onions. After five minutes add the mushrooms and when they have fried for a couple of minutes and the white wine, mixed herbs and cayenne pepper. Let everything simmer and the wine reduce slightly. Add the bacon and turkey to the pan for the final couple of minutes. You don't want to overcook the turkey.

To make the pastry rub the butter into the flour and then add the cold water to bring everything together. Wrap the pastry in the fridge and leave it to rest for half an hour.

When you are ready to cook the pie, heat the oven to 180 degrees. Place the pie filling into a dish and then cover with the rolled out pastry. Brush the top of the pastry with beaten egg and pop in the oven for 25 minutes. Using the leftover pastry to make your initial is option.

Perky Turkey
The 'perky turkey' is a Nigel Slater recipe that I followed a bit more faithfully then the pie which I free styled. A marinade / sauce for the turkey is made from garlic, soy sauce, honey, mustard and ketchup and then it is baked in the oven to reheat. Although I followed the recipe you could make a sauce at of any of your favourite ingredients and follow the same idea.

I liked the concept of the 'perky turkey' but I think the marinade / sauce could have done with some more robust flavours to take into account the greater quantity of dark meat I was using. I will also add some more liquid next time to create more of a gravy / sauce.

I served the 'perky turkey' with some sautéed leeks and steamed rice.

You can check out the recipe on the BBC website.