Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Turkey and foie gras mini pie.

One filling, one pie three ways.

Using different little pots/containers, you can create an interesting array of pies. I used different sizes and shapes of ramekins and little flower pots and ended with some individual little potpies. Because we’re in the festiv season, I used foie gras along with the turkey for the filling as well as cubes of boudin blanc (milk/white sausage) and black truffles from Perigord. For the small mini pies, I omitted the foie gras, since it gets too oily once the foie gras is heated, making the small pies too soggy. It can be replaced with chicken livers and a cubed smoked cheese sausage for some stronger flavour.

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Turkey and foie gras pie.

  • about 400g turkey filets
  • 80 g bacon
  •  200 g store bought puff pastry
  • 1 large onion, quatered and sliced
  • 150 g mushrooms
  • 1 white sausage (optional)
  • 100 g uncooked foie gras (optional)
  • 1 truffle
  • 1 organic chicken stock cube
  • 1 egg yolk
  • parsley, salt and pepper
  • sherry vinegar
  1. Cover the bases of the pie containers with the puff pastry. Cut some circles to cover and some fun shapes to decorate. Place on an oven tin and set aside in the fridge.
  2. Sauté the sliced onion in some olive oil until tranclucent , remove to a plate and keep aside.
  3. Cut the turkey filets into bite size pieces.
  4. Brown the turkey meat and the bacon in the onion pan, remove to a plate and keep aside.
  5. Sauté the mushrooms in the same pan over high heat, until just wilted. Mix with the meat and onions, season and keep aside.
  6. Deglaze the pan with about 150ml of chicken stock, with a liberal drizzle of sherry vinegar. Remove from the stove and add the truffle juice.
  7. Remove the skin of the white sausage and cut into cubes.
  8. Cut the foie gras into cubes.
  9. Finely chop the truffle.
  10. Fill the pies with the turkey mixture, top off with some sausages and foie gras, sprinkle with truffle and chopped parsley and a light drizzling of deglazed sauce. Brush a little egg yolks over the seams, cover with a pastry circle and lightly “pinch” the edges together.
  11. Leave in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, essential for the pastry to puff up during cooking.
  12. Just before baking, brush the pies with egg yolk and bake the cold pies in a hot oven at 230 deg. C for 20 to 25 minutes.

                  Serves about 4 people for a main meal, or 8 people as a starter

This is an entry for The mini pie revolution, of which Ann at Redacted recipes and Karyn at Threepotato are the hosts.

Posted on by Myfrenchkitchen

Velouté de topinambours(Jerusalem artichokes)

I love topinambour, for their quirky shapes as well as their earthy smell and somewhat different, slightly sweet taste.  Delicious are they in a cocotte or pureed as a side dish and just as wonderful are they as a soup. Unlike a chunky vegetable soup or earthy legume soup, we rarely have only a creamy soup for dinner. I don’t find it substantial enough, unless you eat a huge bowl or two, which makes it too rich. So I’ll normally serve this soup as a starter and then follow up with something like maybe a warm salad or chicken filet with a tomato sauce.

See also Zlamushcka’s version of a topinambour soup.

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Velouté de topinambours(Jerusalem artichokes)

  • About 400 g topinambours
  • 3 shallots
  • 1 large sweet potato
  • 750 ml organic vegetable stock(or chicken stock)
  • 1 bouquet garni(parsley stems, thyme, bay leaves & lemon peel wrapped and tied in the green part of a leek)
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • cream to add to taste(milk for a lighter version)
  •  a drop or two of freshly squeezed lemon juice
  1. Peel the topinambours and the sweet potato and cut into slices.
  2. Peel, chop the shallots and sauté in some olive oil until translucent.
  3. Add the sliced the stweet potato, topinambours, the stock, the bouquet garni and let it simmer for at least 30 minutes or longer. The topinambours needs to be well cooked and very tender.
  4. Take off the heat, remove the bouquet garni and mix until smooth and velvety, adding milk or cream to your preferred consistency.
  5. Heat up gently, add some lemon juice and salt and papper to taste.
  6. Serve in warmed bowls and finish off with a drizzle of fruity extra virgin olive oil and a a turn of the pepper mill.
  7. Serve warm with toasted bread triangles or a grainy baguette.

                                                                               Serves 4 – 6

This is an entry for WHB nr 111, hosted by Kalyn at Kalyn’s kitchen. For more info on weekend herb blogging read here.

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