Eat Together, Make Life Delicious...

This recipe is the perfect answer to leftover holiday turkey. It can be made in stages to reduce the sense of continuous prep time or simply buy pre-made pie crusts to help speed things up. Or only prepare a bottom crust and instead cover the pot pie with shredded cheese (as seen in the picture). Potpies can also be assembled and frozen for a later date. The potpie recipe can be converted to work with any meat or seafood, such as duck, pheasant, ham, chicken, shrimp, crabmeat, scallops, or lobster.

Turkey Potpie
Makes 8 Servings

For the crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoon butter, unsalted
¼ teaspoon salt

For the filling:
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 medium white onion, peeled and roughly chopped into ¼-inch pieces
4 celery stalks, peeled, deveined and roughly chopped into ¼-inch pieces
¼ cup finely chopped fresh parsley leaves
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1½ cups good chicken broth
4 lb. turkey, roasted, meat removed from the bones and carcass and chopped into ¼-inch pieces

In a medium metal bowl, combine the flour, butter, and salt. With clean hands, slowly begin to mash and smear the butter, mixing it with the flour until the butter is completely incorporated. The flour will begin be pale yellow. Add three tablespoon of ice water and again incorporate the mixture. If more water is needed, add in a few cold drops at a time. If you overdo it and have to add flour to compensate, the dough will become tough. Once the dough is formed, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with an oven rack placed in the center of the oven.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large heavy pot and sauté the carrots, onion, and celery over medium-high heat until tender, about 7 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the parsley, salt, pepper, chicken broth and turkey. Cover the pot loosely and cook the filling for about 15 minutes or until a nice soupy mixture forms. Remove the filling from the heat and let it cool slightly.

To finish the crust, remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut it in half. On a floured surface, roll out half of the dough with a well floured rolling pin to about 1/8-inch thick, about 12 inches across. Move that off to the side and roll out the second half of the dough in the same manner. Gently place your hands under one of the rolled out doughs and transfer it to a 8 to 10-inch pie pan.

Scoop out the filling and spoon it into the pie shell, coating it evenly. Cover the pie with the second rolled out crust and cut away the extra crust that extends beyond the pie pan. Set the extra dough aside. Begin pinching the seams together with your fingers, sealing the doughs together. Tuck the pinched together crust into the pie pan to reinforce the edge and decoratively pinch the edges with your fingers and a knuckle to make a fancy indentation.

Bake the pot pie in the oven for 25 minutes on the center rack. The crust should begin turning golden brown. Carefully and loosely cover the pie with aluminum foil to avoid the crust getting too brown and bake for an additional 20 minutes or until the crust is thoroughly cooked.

Remove the pot pie from the oven, and let it cool slightly before serving.

Labels: holiday meals, leftover turkey, pot pie