Sausage Kale And Mushroom Pot Pie

The whole house smells delicious as your baking this dish in the oven. We were salivating and couldn’t wait until it was finished baking. I was salivating long before it even went in the oven while I made the filling. The filling is so wonderfully fragrant and so delicious I wanted to eat all before it went into the dish.

It’s rich and creamy and you get to decide how rich and creamy you want it. Adding whole milk instead of the broth makes it extra rich - pretty much a béchamel filled pot pie. We opted for the broth in this one, equally creamy and delicious.

Pot pies are really the best enjoyed hot out the oven while the buttery crust is crisp and delicious, although I do reheat my leftovers in the oven and the crust doesn’t get soggy. So really it’s enjoyed at anytime! What’s better than hearing the crust crackle and flake away while you make your first cut into that pot pie? So good. I am also a fan of pot pies because of how easy and versatile they can be and can be made pretty quickly especially if you have some good puff pastry hanging around in your fridge or freezer. You can definitely keep this vegetarian by adding more veggies replacing the sausage, and you can make it GF by using a gluten free flour or thickening agent as well as a GF pastry.

I particularly love this combo because the sausage adds so much flavour to the dish overall, along with the fresh herbs. I love mushrooms - texture, taste and everything about them, but if you are not a fan of them, I suggest adding some delicious green peas. You all know how much I love my greens and kale was a great addition to this pot pie. You really can get creative with your filling just keep the broth and flour or thickening agent ratios the same and you get a creamy filling every time!

This dish made us and our bellies quite happy and the leftovers were just as good if not better as the flavours and herbs had time to meld and marry overnight. I know you and your family will love this as well and hope you give it a try!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter (sub with more olive oil as an alternative)
• 1 pound of sausages, casings removed and meat broken into 3/4-inch pieces
• 2 medium onions, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp of fresh thyme
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• ⅓ cup all-purpose flour or thicker of choice
• 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth or whole milk for extra creaminess and richness
• 1 bunch kale, torn into bite-size pieces (approx 3 cups)
• 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 1 pounds of mushrooms cleaned and chopped
• 2 sheets puff pastry (mine were 7.5 oz each) or one large one to cover the entire surface of the dish you are making it in ( I also like to use a homemade pie crust if I have one frozen or on hand -you can also make your own puff pastry - homemade recipes for each below)
• Flour to dust working area and rolling pin
• 1 egg beaten for egg wash
  

Directions

1. Heat oven to 400°F

2. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking the pieces up and tossing occasionally, until browned, 4 to 6 minutes.

3. Add the onions, rosemary, thyme and mushrooms and season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute.

4. Sprinkle the flour in and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add the broth or the milk if using instead and simmer until thickened, 2 to 3 minutes stirring the whole time. Add the kale, and the vinegar and cook, tossing, until the kale is wilted, 2 to 3 minutes.

5. Transfer to a 9-by-13-inch or some other 3-quart baking dish and rollout puff pastry on a flour dusted working area until you have it rolled out to a little bigger than the dish.

6. Unroll the puff pastry onto the dish, fit it gently into the dish with your fingers, trim excess edges and roll in the edges or place them over the lip of the dish and crimp them with fingers or fork. Either way is fine. (I rolled my edges in for this one)

7. Brush pastry with egg wash and cut 4 slits/vents into the pastry crust in the middle of the pie.

8. Transfer dish to a baking sheet to catch any spills and bake until the pastry is golden and the filling is bubbling, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Quick And Easy Homemade Puff Pastry

Ingredients

• 2⅓ cups (11½ oz/ 350g) plain flour
• 14 tablespoons (7 oz/210g) butter, frozen
• Pinch salt
• 8-10 tablespoons chilled water
• 1 tablespoon lemon/lime juice
  

Directions

1. Place your butter in the freezer for a minimum of 2 hours but preferably overnight.
2. In a jug mix together your water and lemon juice and set aside.
3. In a large bowl mix together the flour and salt. Make sure everything to be cold to yield you great pastry so feel free to put the bowl of flour in the fridge to chill.
4. On the larger side of a grater, grate the frozen butter directly into the flour mix. Stir the butter into the flour with a knife in with a knife. Frozen butter is the secret ingredient. The colder the butter the flakier the pastry.
5. Add in the liquid, holding a little back just in case you don’t need it all. Using your hand bring your pastry together gently. You want to add just enough water to bring the pastry together. Too much water will not yield you a flakey dough.
6. Bring the dough together to form a ball. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. You can refrigerate it for up to 3 days or freeze to use at a later day.
7. Note: Once you put pastry in the fridge and it relaxes it will get a little wetter so factor that in.
8. To use your pastry: Follow instructions required by the recipe you are making. Alway bake in a HOT oven for best results.

Simple Homemade Pie Crust

Ingredients

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ teaspoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick unsalted very cold butter
• 4-8 tablespoons ice water, divided
• 1 large egg, beaten (for egg wash)
  

Directions

1. Combine the flour and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Alternatively, if making crust by hand, whisk the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl.
2. Remove the butter from the fridge and cut it into several small cubes.
3. Scatter the cubes of butter over the surface of the flour in the food processor and pulse 15 to 25 times until the mixture resembles cornmeal with pieces of butter no larger than a pea. Alternatively, cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter, a fork, or your fingertips but do not overwork.
4. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of ice water over the butter-flour mixture. Pulse 4 to 5 times to combine. Check to see if the dough is holding together by squeezing a bit of it in your hand — if it holds together, it’s ready; if it breaks apart easily, add a little more water one tbsp at a time. The final dough should not come together in as a typical dough, but you should see no more powdery flour and the dough should just be starting to clump together in large crumbs. Alternatively, sprinkle the water over the flour and use two forks to toss the flour to combine. Test the dough and add more water as described above, handling the dough as little as possible with your hands.
5. Turn the pie dough out onto a clean work surface. Use your hands to very quickly gather and press the shaggy dough into a thick disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 days (or freeze for up to 3 months; defrost in the fridge overnight before using).
6. When ready to use remove the dough disk from fridge, sprinkle your clean working surface and rolling pin with flour. Unwrap the dough and lay it on top of the flour. Working from the middle of the dough outwards, roll the dough into a circle approx 12 inches in diameter (a few inches larger than your pie pan). Be careful to work the dough as little as possible. If the dough cracks when you first start rolling, let it stand for one minute to warm slightly before rolling again. Use more flour if the dough starts to stick. Use a pastry scraper to lift the pastry from the work surface and make sure it’s not sticking.
7. Lay your rolling pin on one edge of the pie crust and begin gently rolling the pie crust over the rolling pin with the help of dough scraper if needed. When it’s all rolled up, move it to the pie pan and gently unroll it into the pie plate and shape or ease it into the plate. Trim the pie dough edges and crimp them using your finger or a fork. Then place the dough in the fridge while you make the filling.
   

Adapted from Real Simple and BBCGoodfood