One thing I love, is how many places there are out there online to get amazing inspiration for food, drink and celebrations.

My issue? Too often the recipe is at the end of a super long story from the author. Not that I don’t appreciate the story, no not that at all. It’s not that I don’t love understanding the impact the dish had on the author, or it’s origin story at ALL. It’s just… I feel bad scrolling past all of that to get to the recipe that I want to cook… then going BACK to the story after I’d cooked at ate the meal, if I remember to…

SO… I’m going to buck the trend from now on. You get quality recipe content PRE-story. And if you, like me, appreciate origins or familial history or even escaping into the world of a lunatic who likes to cook spouting off about why she/he loves what the post is about – have at it! It’ll still be there… just a bit farther down.

This one has no story. LOL. Just make it, trust me….

Thanksgiving Turkey Pot Pie (makes 2 pies)

Ingredients:

• 1 quart of turkey stock (preferably homemade from your roasted bird)
• 3 cups diced veggies of choice, PRECOOKED (peas, carrots, potatoes, green beans, sweet potato, corn kernels, etc)
• 3 cups of chopped/stripped turkey meat from carcass/leftovers
• 6 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup cream
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 2 tsp dried thyme
• 4 fresh sage leaves chopped
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 1 tbsp onion powder
• 1 tbsp garlic powder

Preheat oven to 375. If you are using homemade or grocery store crust, get it up to temp so you can roll and place into your prepped pie dishes.

(This recipe makes 2 pies so have 4 rounds of crust, or you mix doughs/crusts… pie crust bottoms with puff pastry tops is what I just made and it was awesome!)

Building and cooking:

• Melt butter in a big pot over medium heat. If you want a nuttier rue, you can brown the butter a bit (but not too much! Don’t let it burn!)
• Whisk in 1/2 cup of flour and mix in remaining flour until you create a thick paste/rue
• Stir in 1/4 of the stock at a time, mixing FAST in order to build the gravy base… the quicker you mix, the smoother it will be. Use all stock. Gravy should thicken quickly over medium heat.
• Once gravy is thickened, add turkey, herbs and veggies and continue to cook for 5-10 more minutes, adjusting the thickness of the gravy as needed.
• Stir in cream just before removing from heat and filling shells
• Fill prepped pie dishes then top with either top round of crust or puff pastry. Make sure to cut vents in your top crust/pastry to help steam escape and your pie not to overflow!
• Cook at 375 for 45-60 min *depending on your oven and altitude)
• If your top crust begins to aggressively brown, you can loosely place foil over the top to reduce the chance of burn
• Once done, remove from oven and allow to sit for 15-20 minutes before cutting to allow the molten, hot deliciousness inside those crusts to cool so you don’t lose your tastebuds for a week or so…(just sayin’)

Recipe for homemade turkey stock to come!

Eat, enjoy and take these ideas into other leftover ‘pies’ so you are using all of your birds, beef, pork or hams…. Adjusting the herb profile, the stock, etc.

Add in a great non-alcoholic (or even boozy if you choose..y?) spritz and you’ve got another few meals of stick to the ribs goodness before you finally say goodbye to your Thanksgiving feast. (I have a great mix recipe to share as well for a fab Fall base for a sip-able punch for the whole holiday season as well…)

If you’re a small family like ours, you can also freeze one of the cooked pies to be reheated later in the winter. 🙂

Enjoy!