Pithivier

I remember learning to make dessert pithiviers working in NYC restaurants in the 80’s. I believe these were made with puff pastry, filled with pastry cream and almond paste… amazingly delicious and flaky. I’ve also enjoyed small, appetizer and hors d’ oeuvres sized, savory pithiviers with cheeses, sausage, forcemeats etc…. really amazing for cocktail events.

Savory Turkey Pithivier

I recently smoke- roasted a heritage turkey breast in my Green Egg; cooled and sliced the turkey breast.

I layered the sliced turkey over baked cornbread, homemade cranberry compote and mascarpone cheese.

You can see I added turkey chorizo for a little fat and flavor. This is all stacked on a circle of homemade puff pastry. I used the Blitz method… actually Junnie, my wife made the pastry dough (of course)

Before baking

It’s important to keep everything cold when assembling. Simply cut a circle, slightly larger than the base and place on top. I use egg wash to ‘glue’ the top and bottom together and score a decoration onto the cover.

Poke a small hole on top and eggwash before baking. Since this was a larger pithivier, I baked at 350 °F until nicely browned.

Amazing!

Let cook a bit to set and serve with cranberry compote or gravy… and plenty of freshly cooked, seasonal veggies.