Thanksgiving was a week ago and you still have some of that bird left in the fridge. Your timeframe for safely eating the turkey is near so here’s one last recipe to help you use up all of your leftover bird. You could also make this with chicken, which I plan to do again this winter. This year for Thanksgiving I smoked a turkey and a ham on our gas grill. We had all the sides to go along with the meat so leftovers were in abundance after the holiday. We ate repeats of the feast for a couple of days as we decorated the Christmas tree, watched Christmas movies and lounged. I froze a lot of the ham which I will use for Cheesy Broccoli Ham and Rice Casserole this winter or some other creations I come up with. I also used some of the ham in some tasty omelets we had for breakfast. Now as far as the turkey, I am not into freezing turkey meat. “It’s a texture thing.” I’ve tried to create turkey tacos with leftover Thanksgiving Day turkey and let’s just say they were never requested again. Our house can only take so much turkey. I’ll usually make panini’s with the leftover meat, but this year I wanted to try a turkey pot pie to give that leftover bird one big send off. I think it turned out pretty good and one I’ll use again.
Here are a few pictures of our feast and then I’ll get to the Turkey Pot Pie Recipe.
Then there was that leftover turkey to deal with . . .
Turkey Pot Pie
I am not a fan of turkey stock, so I made a very rich chicken stock with this. I know I use this type of stuff a lot.
Turkey Pot Pie
Ingredients:
1 onion diced
4 cloves of garlic – minced
3 stalks of celery – diced
1 1/2 C Carrots – diced fine or minced
16 oz frozen sweet peas uncooked
2 – 2 1/2 C cooked turkey or chicken – shredded or diced
Ready Made refrigerated pie dough – enough for a top and bottom. You will want this to sit out at room temperature when you begin chopping everything so it’s more pliable when you are ready to use it.
5 TBS butter
1/2 C flour
1/4 C heavy cream
1 TBS chicken base mixed in 2 C Boiling water
1 1/2 TBS thyme leaves chopped
1/2 TBS rosemary chopped
1/2 TBS sage chopped
1/2 teas Kosher Salt
1/2 teas black pepper
Directions:
First, chop all veggies and set aside. Chop or shred the cooked turkey or chicken and set aside.
Boil 2 C of water and mix in 1 TBS of chicken base with this and set aside.
Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add in Onions and saute for a few minutes.
Add in carrots, garlic, and celery and continue to cook for 3-4 minutes over medium heat. You may need to cook for a few minutes longer if your carrots are a little larger.
Add in all the flour and use a whisk to incorporate the flour into the veggies and melted butter. Stir frequently to prevent burning or sticking.
Cook the flour and veggies for 2-3 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add in the chicken base/water mixture and heavy cream. Stir this until combined.
Add in the spices and salt and pepper and stir until this thickens a bit.
Add in the frozen peas and the chopped meat and stir to incorporate.
Turn off the heat.
Roll out the bottom pie dough and press into a greased 9 inch pie plate/pan.
Gently add in the pot pie filling into the pie.
Top with the second pie dough, gently crimping and pressing the edges together to seal.
Cut a few slits in the top of the pie.
Bake at 375 for 15 min. Cover the edges with foil, then bake for another 25-30 minutes until golden brown.
Allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
Bye Bye, Birdie!
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