Day After Thanksgiving Turkey Pot Pie

When Brian and I were married, my cousin gave me a handwritten set of her favorite recipes. They were included with other useful kitchen items, but to this day, I recognize her recipes because of her handwriting and the hearts that she stenciled on the cards.

One of the recipes was for an after-Thanksgiving Pot Pie. The beauty of this pie is that it's made with leftovers from a traditional Thanksgiving dinner: turkey, stuffing, gravy, vegetables. The only additional item I get is a pie crust.

Though I cook a lot, and am not one to take many short cuts, I've never been one to make my own pie crust. For some reason the dizzying array of tried and true pie crust recipes has intimidated me. You see, like when I tried to make salsa, I will sit and study 10 different recipes before settling on one to try.

However, this summer, my daughter and I made a homemade strawberry rhubarb pie complete with a homemade crust. It was spectacular (recipe from Cook's Illustrated...will share later). So, I think THIS year, I will be making my own pie crust for Thanksgiving dessert and for the turkey pot pie.

The anal person in me always follows a recipe precisely. There are very few things I will just "throw together". I'm just not that natural of a cook. This dish, however, I am comfortable with.

Day After Thanksgiving Turkey Pot Pie

In a bowl, combine:

1-2 C shredded/chopped turkey meat
1 C chopped celery*
1 C chopped onion*
1-2 C stuffing
1 C gravy

*You can saute these in a little butter if you like. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't!

Line a pie pan (I swear by the Pampered Chef stoneware ones...they do not produce soggy bottomed crusts!!) with one pie crust. Fill with the above contents. Place a second pie crust over the top, sealing the edges. Decorate as desired. (I used a turkey shaped cookie cutter to cut out all those little turkeys around the edges. Just wet the bottom of the dough piece with a little water so it will stick to the crust.) Put a few slits in the top crust so steam can escape.

Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes (until the crust is golden).

Let the pot pie cool and set for about 15 minutes before cutting into it.

The Cook's Illustrated crust recipe I'll be using:

The Best Pie Dough
Double Crust 10-inch Regular or 9-inch Deep-Dish

The following pie dough is one in a series for different size pies. When rolling out the dough, roll to a thickness of about 1/8-inch thick (about the thickness of two quarters).

For a double-crust 10-inch regular pie
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon table salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
13 tablespoons unsalted butter , cold, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
7 tablespoons vegetable shortening , chilled
4 - 5 tablespoons ice water

1. Mix flour, salt and sugar in food processor fitted with steel blade. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture, tossing to coat butter with some flour. cut butter into flour with five 1-second pulses. Add shortening and continue cutting in until flour is pale yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal with butter bits no larger than small peas, about four more 1-second pulses. Turn mixture into medium bowl.

2. Sprinkle 4 tablespoons of ice water over mixture. With blade of rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix. Press down on dough with broad side of spatula until dough sticks together, adding up to 1 tablespoon more ice water if dough will not come together. Shape dough into two balls with your hands, one slightly larger than the other. Flatten into 4-inch-wide disks. Dust lightly with flour, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes before rolling.