Does that turkey you cooked keep on giving? With New Year’s celebrations just around the corner, it’s wise to tuck away a portion of that leftover turkey for my Turkey & Chestnut Pastry Slice. Chunks of turkey, shiitake mushrooms and shallots marry with cream cheese and topped with cranberry sauce and roasted chestnuts. It’s a wonderful combination tucked inside flaky and golden puff pastry. This Turkey & Chestnut Pastry Slice makes a lovely appetizer and can be made several hours ahead and baked when ready to serve.
The roasted chestnuts are an added step but give a little sweetness and texture to this dish, plus the extra chestnuts are great to eat on their own or as part of an appetizer or dessert board. Roasted chestnuts are also great as a sweet puree used in other desserts or made into jam. Here’s a couple of ways to use up the extras from The Spruce Eats, that is if they make it that long.
I’d like to wish everyone a happy and healthy year ahead! I look forward to creating and sharing great recipes with you. This blogging side hustle of mine is what keeps me sane some days, focusing my thoughts on delicious food and having fun with my passion. Have a Happy New Year and all the best in 2021.
Bring a medium pot of water to a simmer, meanwhile rinse chestnuts and cut a slit across the rounded side of the chestnut being careful not cut into the meat too much. It helps to lay the chestnut flat and use a sharp knife or a chestnut knife. Once the water is at a simmer drop in the chestnuts, cover and simmer on low for 10-12 minutes.
Drain chestnuts and arrange in a single layer on a baking tray with the cut side up. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with a kitchen towel and allow to cool enough to handle. Once cool split open the shell by prying apart at the cut seam to remove the outer shell and release the meaty chestnut.
Coarsely chop 10 chestnuts and save the remainder for another use. They are great eaten as they are or as a salad topper, in stuffing and many desserts.
Lay the sheet of puff pastry on a sheet of parchment big enough for your baking tray. Roll pastry to a 12"x12" square (the original sheet will be 10"x10"). If using a block of puff pastry roll out to 12"x12".
Cut 1" wide fingers that are no more than 4" long down parallel sides of the pastry square, leaving an uncut center strip that is at least 4" wide (see photo).
Spread the turkey mixture evenly along the uncut center portion of the pastry sheet.
Spread evenly with cranberry sauce and top with chopped chestnuts.
Wrap the pastry by bringing the pastry fingers across the filling, alternating sides as you go and tucking or crimping the ends. It's okay to have a few spaces between fingers.
Using the parchment, move pastry to your baking tray.
In a small bowl whisk together egg and 1 tbsp of water. Brush the prepared pastry with egg wash and bake for 25-28 minutes on middle rack.
Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes before slicing and serving. The center will firm up a little as it cools making it easier to slice and eat.
Notes
-While chestnuts are boiling, baking and cooling you can assemble the pastry roll up until topping with chestnuts for optimal usage of time.-The Turkey & Chestnut Pastry Slice can be prepped up to the egg wash, cover well and refrigerated up to 3 hours in advance. When ready, brush with egg wash and bake.
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The saga for this Mushroom Lasagna starts with a 50oz container of dried wild mushrooms from Costco. In dried mushrooms terms, it’s a lot, and now I’m a little obsessed to use them to say the least.
My initial inclination was an easy wild mushroom and ricotta ravioli made with wonton wrappers. I found the first round to be good but I was unhappy with the pictures. It’s quite difficult to get soft pale food to look great. So, I re-made the recipe to take new pictures. It was then that I decided the wonton wrappers became too soft during cooking and were not the ideal product. Now fast forward to the purchase of fresh lasagna sheets, destined to stamp out ravioli as originally planned. But NOW I can’t get the pre made pasta sheets to stick together….no matter what I tried. I now have filling and pre made lasagna sheets but no ravioli in sight. I suppose the writing was on the wall at this point.
Although I took the long route, the resulting dish is cheesy and delicious with a meaty bite from the mushrooms and a luscious sauce speckled with fresh sage. A great vegetarian option for your meatless meals. Enjoy!
Recipe source for Mushroom Lasagna: Compelled To Cook
In a medium saucepan over medium heat melt butter. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute stirring often as you don't want it to brown. Add 1 cup of warm milk, whisking constantly until mixture comes to a boil and is smooth. Add another cup of milk, whisking until mixture again reaches a boil. Stir in remaining milk and whisk until smooth. Reduce heat and cook for 5 minutes, whisking often. Remove from heat and stir in both cheeses, sage, salt and pepper. Stir until cheese has melted and mixture is smooth. Cover with plastic wrap directly on surface of sauce and set aside until ready with remainder of dish or you can refrigerate and use later.
In a medium size bowl, stir together ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, fresh sage, salt and pepper. When mushroom mixture has cooled, stir into cheese mixture. Set aside.
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