Phyllo, Phyllo, Phyllo Pot Pies

That one wasn’t supposed to look like a burrito

This is a great way to use up Thanksgiving turkey or, just thinking out loud here, some chicken from a Julia Child recipe that you might have messed up and might have thrown a big hissy fit about while your wife sat in the dining room eating it alone and drinking her French wine and saying ‘It still tastes good to me.’ That of course didn’t happen in these parts.

In any case, we had some leftover chicken and phyllo dough to use up and did so three ways. A standard crust, a turnover style (it was supposed to be a turnover but it looks burrito-esque) and a layering technique. Hands down, the chicken baklava won. It crisped up nicely and was a great way to let the filling and dough shine. It was a thing of beauty really. Sort of like the swear words coming out of someone’s mouth after four wasted hours of cooking chicken only to have it *&(&^*%^$ fall apart at the last ^($&#$&* minute.

Phyllo Pot Pies

• Half a box prepared phyllo dough, one sleeve
• 1 12-ounce bag frozen peas
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 cup steamed carrots, diced
• 1/2 cup mushrooms
• 4 cups chopped chicken or turkey
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1/3 cup flour
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
• salt/pepper to taste
• olive oil

In a large saute pan, melt butter over medium heat. Saute onions until tender, about 3 minutes, then add mushrooms. Cook until tender and water has released, about five minutes. Stir in flour and mix to coat the vegetables. Pour in chicken broth and milk and cook until thick and bubbly. Stir in peas and carrots. Cook until peas are warmed through to ensure you don’t water down the mix. Adjust seasoning and add parsley. Remove from heat.

For the baklava-style, grease a large casserole dish or lasagna pan, about 9 by 13. Put a layer of four sheets of phyllo dough at the bottom, brushing every other sheet with a bit of olive oil. Cover with a thin layer of the filling and then repeat, ending with phyllo dough. Brush top sheet with olive oil. To simply make a crust, grease the pan, fill with filling and top with five to seven layers of phyllo dough. Brush each layer with olive oil. Don’t bother with the turnover style, they don’t taste as good and might end up looking like burritos.