We first made this savory torta from Maria Sinskey with duck. It was delicious and we would definitely make it again, but we had a lot of Thanksgiving turkey leftovers, and instead of turkey sandwiches or turkey soup, we thought the dark meat would be perfect baked in filo dough with golden raisins and onion.
Since our turkey was already cooked, we decided the food processor was the best way to get the turkey to a fine consistency for the filling. We also used the food processor for the onion, but chopped the parsley with a knife. If you prefer, you could chop the parsley in the food processor as well. The food processor makes quick work of finely chopping the ingredients and makes putting together this torta really easy.
The savory filo torta would be perfect with pinot noir and a simple salad. Clayton thinks it makes the Thanksgiving leftover turkey dark meat “ethereal.” That’s a high compliment from someone who doesn’t like dark meat or food processors!
What is your favorite way to use Thanksgiving leftovers? We used some of our turkey to make truffled turkey tetrazzini. We still have a few pounds left!
- 1 package filo pastry (you will need 12 sheets)
- 1 onion, roughly chopped
- 1 lb cooked turkey, roughly chopped
- ½ cup golden raisins
- 3 sprigs thyme, leaves stripped
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 6 tablespoons chopped parsley
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup milk
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- Preheat oven to 375 F.
- Add the onion to food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
- Add olive oil to skillet and sauté onions until translucent.
- While onions are cooking, add turkey to food processor and pulse until finely chopped.
- Add turkey, raisins, thyme, and white wine to skillet with onions, and cook until heated through. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Remove from heat and stir in parsley.
- Grease tart pan with oil.
- In a separate bowl, mix one egg and one egg white (reserve the yolk for later) with milk.
- Working quickly, lay two pieces of filo dough in tart pan to form a cross. The edges will hang over the sides of the pan. Brush the part that's inside pan with two tablespoons of the egg/milk mixture and lightly press down with the brush to form the dough to the shape of the pan. Avoid getting the milk mixture on the dough that's not in the pan because it's easier to work with later. Repeat this step two more times so that you have a total of six sheets of dough.
- Add the meat mixture to the pan. On top of the meat mixture repeat the above procedure above with filo dough so you have six more layers (total of 12).
- Begin to fold over each individual sheet that's laying over the tart pan, starting with the top, and brush the top of the tart with the milk/egg mixture. Repeat this with each of the individual 12 sheets.
- Once all sheets are folded over, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and the egg yolk to the remaining egg/milk mixture. Pour the remaining mixture overt the top of the tart, making sure that it's evenly coated.
- Bake for 30-4 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.