After Thanksgiving, the turkey carcass serves 2 purposes: turkey pot pie and turkey vegetable soup or stock. 

The first thing I do is pull off enough leftover meat to make a good 3 cups. That’s for the pot pie. 

If there’s enough meat left on the carcass, I make soup; if not, I’ll use the carcass for a flavorful and healthful stock.

For the pot pie, I followed, for the most part, a Cook’s Country recipe. It calls for a double crust. I used their sour cream crust recipe recommended for the pie.  You can also use your own recipe, or store bought. 

If you do use store bought, sprinkle with a tiny bit of flour to give it more structure.

I used a 9” square oven proof casserole pan instead of a pie pan.

One more thing – you can, of course, sub in chicken for turkey. (Think deli roasted chicken…)

Double crust turkey pot pie

Go to taste on vegetables. A little more, or less, is OK.

Filling ingredients

4 tablespoons butter

1 medium yellow or white onion, diced small

1 cup carrots, diced small

1/2 cup celery, diced small

Salt and pepper to taste

1/3 cup flour

2-1/4 cups chicken or turkey broth

1/2 cup half & half 

1 cup potato, peeled and diced small

Couple shakes dried thyme, to taste

3 cups shredded turkey or chicken

1 cup frozen peas or mixed frozen vegetables

Crust

2 pie crusts, rolled out to 12” each, for 9” pie pan: 

Crust

Ingredients

1/2 cup sour cream, chilled

1 large egg, lightly beaten

2-1/2 cups flour

1-1/2 teaspoons salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2” pieces and chilled

1 egg, lightly beaten (optional – gives crust color and sturdiness)

Instructions crust

Combine sour cream and egg in bowl. Process flour and salt in food processor until combined, about 3 seconds. Add butter and pulse until only pea-size pieces remain, about 10 pulses. Add half of sour cream mixture and pulse until combined, 5 pulses. Add remaining sour cream mixture and pulse until dough begins to form, about 10 pulses.

Transfer mixture to lightly floured counter and knead briefly until dough comes together. Divide dough in half and form each half into 4-inch disk. Wrap disks tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour. (Wrapped dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If frozen, let dough thaw completely on counter before rolling.)

Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften slightly, about 10 minutes, before rolling. Roll 1 disk of dough into 12-inch circle on lightly floured counter. Loosely roll dough around rolling pin and gently unroll it onto 9-inch pie plate, letting excess dough hang over edge. Ease dough into plate by gently lifting edge of dough with your hand while pressing into plate bottom with your other hand.

Roll other disk of dough into 12-inch circle on lightly floured counter, then transfer to parchment paper–lined baking sheet; cover with plastic. Refrigerate both doughs for 30 minutes.

Instructions filling 

Adjust oven rack to lowest position and preheat to 450.

Melt butter in large saucepan over medium heat.

Add onion, carrots, celery, salt and pepper and cook just until vegetables soften a bit, about 5 minutes.

Sprinkle flour over and cook, stirring constantly, until golden, a couple of minutes. It might look lumpy.

Slowly stir in broth and half & half, then bring to boil over medium heat.

Stir in potato and thyme. Reduce heat a bit, and simmer until sauce is thickened and potato is tender, about 8 minutes.
Remove from heat and stir in turkey and peas.

Assembly

Transfer filling to dough lined pie pan.

Place top crust onto filling. Trim overhang to 1/2” beyond edges, then pinch edges of top and bottom crusts firmly together. Tuck overhang under itself. Folded edge should be flush with edge of pie pan. Crimp dough evenly around edges using fingers. 

Cut four 2” slits in top.

Brush top with egg.

Place on baking sheet and bake until top is golden, 18-20 minutes.
Reduce temperature to 375, rotate sheet and continue to bake until crust is deep golden brown, 12-15 minutes or so.

Cool 20-30 minutes to allow filling to set up.

Tips

Swap it out!

Serve filling over split biscuits or into baked puff pastry shells. 

Filling won’t be as thick as baked but still yummy.

Coming soon: gifts from the kitchen

• Kay Hitzler’s muhammara
• White chocolate almond cranberry fudge