Sunday, November 28, 2010

April's Home Cooking

Wondering what else to do with all the turkey leftovers this year? Try this turkey pie recipe. I usually make it as a chicken pie, but turkey will certainly do the trick, too. It’s great as a hot meal and equally tasty cold with a green salad as a quick lunch. I make this quite a bit with leftovers or from scratch using skinless, boneless chicken breasts, so I’ve tried a few variations over the years. I’ve added different spices, different veggies and have even added in some cheese once in awhile. If you come up with some tasty variations, I’d be happy to hear about them!

Basic Turkey Pie

Ingredients:

2 cups diced, cooked turkey (or chicken)*

1 ½ cups canned turkey broth (or chicken broth)

4 tablespoons margarine (April’s note: I use olive oil now instead)

1 medium onion, chopped (about ½ cup)

½ pound mushrooms, sliced (optional, but add an extra ½ cup of meat if you opt out)

3 tablespoons flour

2 ready made pie crusts

Utensils:

9-inch pie pan

Large skillet

*If you want to start from scratch, cut up 3 chicken breasts, regular size (or 2 jumbo), skinless and boneless and stir fry in a large skillet. You can then add the onions and mushrooms and cook in the same pan.

Crust:

Preheat oven to 400º. Place one of the ready-made pie crusts into the pie pan so that the edge of the crust is standing up slightly higher then the edge of the pan. (This will shrink down as it bakes.) Use a fork to prick the crust on the sides and the bottom. Bake the bottom crust for about 10 minutes or until it just begins to turn a golden brown. Check every crust halfway through. Press crust back against sides of pan if it starts to fold inward. When the crust is ready, remove form oven and reduce the heat to 375º (or 350º for a glass pie pan).

While the crust is baking, you can begin to make the filling.

Filling:

In the skillet, melt the butter and fry the onion until golden at a medium heat. Next, add the mushrooms and cook till tender. Then add the cooked, diced meat and a bit of the broth. Heat for a minute, adding a bit more broth if necessary. Add the flour and mix to coat contents of skillet. Add the rest of the broth gradually and blend all contents in skillet thoroughly. At this point, you can add salt and pepper to taste. (April’s note: if you want to get creative with other spices, try adding a bit of poultry seasoning.)

Pour filling into baked pie crust. Put second prepared crust over top and pinch securely around the edge of crust in the pan. Trim off any excess. Cut vents in the top curst.

Bake at 375º for about 30 minutes or until the top crust has begun to brown.

Cool for five minutes or so before cutting into wedges to serve hot.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Great idea! We don't eat chicken in my house because we follow the blood type diet and it's not on our diet. I make individual turkey pot pies in separate ramekins and they are super tasty. Great post.
Liz Arnold
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