Hey y’all,

Dakarai and I hosted our first ever Thanksgiving this year and it was a roaring success. With seventeen members of our families in attendance, each bringing their own contribution, you can imagine the abundance of food that was present. While most dishes were gone before the end of the night we found ourselves with more turkey than we could handle even after scarfing down a few dozen turkey sandwiches over the weekend. So in the spirit of zero waste I scoured the internet for suggestions on what to do with leftover turkey and came across pot pie!

I am such a huge fan of the dish but have never attempted to make it myself until last night. I grew up eating the frozen banquet pot pies that come in that little red box and always thought they were so tasty even if the meat appeared questionable, haha. But after making my own I’m not sure I can ever go back to banquet pot pies again. Although the recipe is a bit time consuming it is worth every bit of effort, so without further ado my recipe for Thanksgiving Leftover Pot Pie! I really hope you give this one a try….

Ingredients

2 cups frozen peas and carrots

1/2 cubed golden potatoes

1/2 cup diced onion

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup all purpose flour

1 TBSP black pepper

1/2 TBSP kosher salt

1 TBSP cumin

1 TBSP coriander

1/2 tsp rosemary

1 cup stock (chicken or vegetable)

2/3 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup whole milk

2 cups cubed cooked turkey meat

4 9inch unbaked pie crusts (2 for crusts and 2 for tops of pies)

Directions

Step 1: Preheat an oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).

Step 2: Place the peas + carrots, and potatoes into a saucepan; cover with water, bring to a boil, and simmer over medium-low heat until the vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Drain the vegetables in a colander set in the sink, and set aside.

Step 3: Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, and cook the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in 1/4 cup of flour, salt, black pepper, cumin, coriander, and rosemary seasoning; slowly whisk in the chicken broth, heavy cream, and milk until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens. Remove from heat; stir the cooked vegetables and turkey meat into the filling until well combined.

Step 4: Fit 2 pie crusts into the bottom of 2 9-inch pie dishes. Spoon half the filling into each pie crust, then top each pie with another crust. Pinch and roll the top and bottom crusts together at the edge of each pie to seal, and cut several small slits into the top of the pies with a sharp knife to release steam.

Step 5: Bake in the preheated oven until the crusts are golden brown and the filling is bubbly, 40 to 45 minutes. If the crusts are browning too quickly, cover the pies with aluminum foil after about 15 minutes. Cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Tips:

Combine the seasonings and flour together in a bowl before adding them to the butter and onions

Combine the stock, heavy cream, and whole milk together before adding them to the flour mixture

Allow your pie crusts to sit out at room temperature 15-20 mins before use for maximum ease

Enjoy!