I was looking for a new vegetarian recipe and decided to edit the "Curried Turkey and Couscous Pie" in my Better Homes & Gardens One Dish Dinners cookbook. It...turned into a cooking adventure in 10 steps.
1. Send Dear Husband to the grocery store for ingredients. He can't find frozen phyllo. Put out all-points-bulletin on Facebook. Get tips for ethnic stores and also a personal message from a residency classmate doing fellowship in town who has half a box of the stuff in her freezer after trying a Jamie Oliver recipe. Pick up phyllo dough and tips about how to use it (e.g. do not attempt to thaw in microwave).
2. Dial up a Zoom meeting while you assemble the ingredients: instead of 1lb chopped turkey, a can of chickpeas, drained. Instead of 1 cup frozen peas, an 8-ounce package of frozen spinach, partly thawed in the fridge. Instead of 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, the rest of a bunch of parsley--except you forgot what you were saving it for and used it all in the "fancy rice" with fish for dinner yesterday. Settle on dried tarragon instead.
3. Even though they aren't in the recipe, chop the rest of the green onions and a little yellow onion from the fridge. Also 2 cloves garlic. Sautee on the stove in some cooking spray. Add chunks of partially frozen spinach, chickpeas, a pinch of salt, 1.5 teaspoons of curry powder and mixed spices, and some large amount of crushed red pepper flakes, since you don't have ground red pepper.
4. Look up conversions for 14.5 fluid ounces: 1.8125 cups or 428.8162 milliliters. Add what you think is 425 mL of vegetable broth to the pot. Once it is boiling, remove from heat and add 1 cup of couscous. (The image in the cookbook definitely shows classic couscous, but all you have is pearled couscous, so you go with it.)
5. While the couscous cooks, grab a metal pie plate with a removable bottom that you hope approximates a spring form pan. Apply 3 sheets of phyllo dough coated with cooking spray along the X axis and 3 along the Y axis of the greased pan. Remove lid from pot to confirm that there is WAY too much filling for that little pie plate. Locate and grease a pair of glass pie plates.
6. Meanwhile, notice that one edge of the phyllo dough has dried out and broken off, while another corner appears to have melted onto a wet spot on the counter. Wonder how anyone worked with phyllo dough before cooking spray.
7. Transfer phyllo dough from metal pan to pie plate. Rotate phyllo sheets for second plate to get better coverage. Divide the filling. Fold over the edges of the dough, apply cooking spray liberally, and put in oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, forget your own recipe for homemade cranberry sauce: Heat 1 cup of orange juice on stove while you rinse and pick over a thawed bag of once-fresh cranberries purchased around Christmas. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 cup water (fatal flaw!). Pop berries with a spoon.
9. Realize the sauce is too...saucey. Strain on stove. Looks like a murder scene. Put cranberry sauce in freezer to cool and reserve liquid for oatmeal at breakfast.
10. Remove delicious-smelling pies from oven and let cool before plating. This will require a sharp knife, a pie server, and a spoon for the little bits left behind. Serving size is 1/4 pie. Serve with the cranberry sauce and some yogurt to cut the strong taste of red pepper. (Or sour cream, or a non-dairy substitute to keep it vegan).
DH liked it! It is filling and different and might join the rotation of "every couple of months" dishes that are messy to make but good to eat. Turn-around time on the dishwasher was just 2 hours, a household record.
