Duck Pot Pie with Sweet Potato

Sorry this recipe is a bit delayed. I've been cooking so much recently but have hardly had time to post anything! Anyway, my friends in my musical theater group will recognize this pot pie because I spent a day preparing to make it, only to realize I had a 3 hour rehearsal that night and would have to delay the meal. I was quite traumatized by this, but was fortunately free to bake and eat this delicious pot pie the next day.

I had an urge to make meat pot pie after my mom sent me a picture of a yummy-looking chicken pot pie she made earlier this month. (We swap cooking stories a lot.) I knew I wanted to use sweet potato, and after much thought I set my mind on duck as the meat for this unique pie. I walked down to Chinatown with Dylan and my roommate Katie to get dim sum and hunt for duck meat. Fortunately, I was able to buy half a cooked duck in a little shop directly across from the restaurant we found. The most time consuming aspect of this recipe was picking the duck meat off the bone, but once that's over the rest is easy and the final product very delicious!

Duck Pot Pie with Sweet Potato

Serves: 8  Prep: 30 minutes  Total: 1 hour, 15 minutes

Ingredients

1/2 duck (approximately 3 cups duck meat)

1 ready-rolled pastry puff

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 1/2 cups carrots, chopped

1 1/2 cups mushroom, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 cups frozen peas

1 tbs thyme

6 tbs butter

6 tbs flour

4 cups low-fat milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

1 egg (optional)

Directions

Remove duck meat from the bone with a small knife or by hand. Be sure to remove small bones and all excess fat from the meat. Set aside.

Combine sweet potato, carrots, mushroom, onion, peas and thyme in a large saucepan. Fill with water up to the top of the vegetables. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes or until the potato is slightly softened. Drain and let cool.

In a medium pot, melt butter on medium-high heat and add flour to begin the béchamel sauce. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally until the mixture is golden and thickened. Heat the milk separately and add in 4 different increments, bring to a boil and let simmer. Add the salt and nutmeg and remove from heat.

In a large baking dish, combine vegetables, duck meat and the béchamel sauce. Cover with pastry puff and brush a whisked egg on top for an egg wash if desired. Cover in foil and bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove and cool before serving.