Anything goes when it comes to “turkey leftover pie”, well, within reason anyway. It’s a prime opportunity to use up leftover vegetables as well as turkey (or chicken). In addition to the ingredients listed below, in the past I’ve also added some minced garlic, green beans, etc.
It’s also great for stocking up the freezer with a few hearty and very easy dinners for those days when you just really don’t feel like cooking. {What! I can’t believe she said that! This is supposed to be a cooking blog!}
After the last turkey dinner I hosted, I followed up dinner promptly by making four of these bad boys (it was a rather large turkey). That was an especially long day, and if I had it all to do over again I would say the turkey could wait it out in the fridge for a day before making some pies… but it was rewarding in the end to make use of SO much food and not see any of it go to waste.
PREP TIME: 25 min COOK TIME: 30 min TOTAL TIME: 55 min YIELD: 2 pies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup chopped carrots
- 1 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 cup frozen peas (I omitted this, because I don’t like peas!)
- 1 whole onion, diced
- 1 big leaf of kale, chopped (optional)
- 2-1/2 cups of diced turkey or chicken
- 4 to 5 cups of chicken broth (or substitute 1 cup with white wine if you happen to have a bottle open…)
- 1/3 cup of margarine or butter
- 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp of celery seed
- 3/4 tsp of thyme
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1/2 tsp of pepper
- 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
- mashed potatoes to top (I use 4-5 large potatoes, peeled, boiled and mashed, and add cream/butter/salt as desired)
- 1/2 cup of shredded cheese, like a sharp cheddar
- 2 prepared pie crusts
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Peel, cut, boil and mash potatoes or use leftover mashed potatoes. {If you prefer, another option is to avoid the potatoes all together, and top with another prepared pie crust instead
- Chop, then cook celery and carrots (and peas, if you like that kind of thing) in 1 cup of either chicken (or turkey) broth or white wine until soft in large skillet under medium heat until al dente. Put aside while you cook the rest of it.
- Add butter to pan, then onions and cook until just translucent. Add flour and seasonings (celery seed, thyme, salt, pepper, anything else you want to throw in). Cook ~2 minutes, stirring slowly. Add 3 cups of chicken (or turkey) broth, mixing well.
- Add chicken, mushroom soup, kale (if you’re using), and vegetable mixture and combine well. Allow to simmer ~10 minutes, and if need-be use additional chicken (or turkey) broth. Or if too runny, simmer longer until mixture thickens.
- Divide mixture into 2 pie crusts, top with mashed potatoes.
- Bake 30 minutes or until crust is browned/cooked. Add cheese to top, then bake additional 6-8 minutes.
- Remove from oven, then let stand 10-15 minutes before eating.
To Freeze:
- Bake pie crusts according to directions. Meanwhile, follow steps 1 through 5 above. Fill pre-baked pie crusts , top with mashed potatoes. Cover with plastic wrap, store in freezer bags, label and freeze. When ready to cook, thaw (in the fridge!) and bake 30-40 minutes at 425 F. Or, if cooking from frozen, bake 50-60 minutes. Tip: wrap crust edges with foil, then remove for the last 15 minutes to avoid burning.