Pot Roast Dinner Turnovers

#RecipeUpTop (details below):

• Blitz-method puff pastry;
• Leftover pot roast dinner;
• 1 large egg;
• Kosher salt (to taste);

Method: Roll out the pastry, and trim into squares. For each square, dock half in a triangle pattern. Add your pot roast dinner. Egg wash half of each square, then fold over and seal. Crimp with a fork. Egg wash the exterior of each, and season with Kosher salt. Cut vents and bake for forty (40) minutes in a 400F oven, rotating halfway through the cooking. Cool and serve with extra gravy for dipping.

The Details

Yesterday we made pot roast. Today, we have leftovers. This is an application of a few arrows in the culinary quiver that are easy to learn, and produce some fairly stunning results. The beauty of this recipe is it can be applied to a nearly endless list of other foods (turkey, stuffing, and cranberry turnovers, anyone?) and it’s basically free. The ingredients for the puff pastry are literally flour, butter, and water.

It’s also absurdly easy, but there are a few tips and tricks to help with success.

Step one: cut your dough (dough recipe here).

I use a pizza cutter to try and get things square. Oh, whatever you do, don’t throw away those scraps: they make an awesome desert/snack that’s free and easy. Anyway, once you have the edges trimmed, cut into squares:

From here, each of these squares will be one hand-pie or turnover (call them whatever you want). The assembly is going to be pretty rote, but here are the ground rules. First, dock half of each square with a fork. Dock is just a fancy word for “poke” and it’s done to let steam escape the dough:

Truthfully, I’ve forgotten this step several times, so it’s not super paramount here, but I do find the docked dough makes a more… sturdy base.

Step two: assemble your pies. If your roast is still in big hunks, go ahead and chop it up. For this application, we’re using leftover mashed potatoes, pot roast, gravy, and green peas. In building, you don’t want to over-stuff, as we need to close these up, so use your judgment. I like using mashed potatoes on the bottom because they’ll catch the good stuff from the roast and the gravy as the pies bake:

Step three: seal ’em up. In a small bowl, beat your egg with a little (1 tsp) water. Using a pastry brush, paint two edges of the pie with your egg wash, then gently fold over the top of the pastry, pressing to seal. Crimp gently with a fork:

Move to a parchment or silicone mat lined baking sheet. If you get a hole here or there, don’t sweat it too much because we need some venting anyway. You don’t want Swiss cheese, but you don’t need perfection.

Paint the tops with the egg wash, season with kosher salt, and snip some vent holes with kitchen shears:

Step four: bake in a 400F oven for forty (40) minutes, rotating halfway through to ensure even cooking. Remove to a wire cooling rack, then serve whenever, with a little extra gravy for dipping: