Cleaning out the Freezer Pie

In anticipation of a big load of meat coming in next week, plus the fact that we couldn't tell which trash bags were holding cat food and which were holding people food, I cleaned out the freezer. In the process, I found some leftover turkey and gravy from Thanksgiving 2007. Realized I had some leftover puff pastry from Christmas, so didn't even need to make a piecrust from scratch. So. Made some most excellent pot pie with very little pain.
Mis en place above shows everything I used except the pots and pans. The "baggies" on the right in the background are the frozen bags of leftover gravy.

Recipe:

As always, be creative! If you don't have gravy, make a roux with stock. Don't have turkey? Use any kind of meat. Just tailor your gravy/stock/roux accordingly.

Generic Pot Pie
Serves 4 as single-dish meal

2 c cooked meat (I used turkey)
2 c gravy or roux (I used turkey gravy)
2 - 3 c total vegetables (I didn't have any leftovers so used fresh broccoli, carrots, mushrooms, and onion)
enough pastry for a 9" - 10" double crust pie (I used frozen puff pastry)

Dice the vegetables if using fresh and steam 8 - 10 minutes until cooked. Run under cold water to stop the cooking process.

If using frozen veggies, run under warm water until at room temperature. If using leftovers, be sure they are in a suitable dice.

Line an 8" or 9" square casserole with 1/2 - 2/3 of the pastry. Ladle in the veggies (see above). Grate a generous amount of pepper over. If you are using an otherwise unseasoned roux, season to taste. If you are using seasoned gravy or stock, just let it stand alone.

Heat the gravy in a saucepan. If making roux use a standard 2T flour+2T fat+2c milk or stock ratio. Once the roux is thickening or the gravy is hot, add the meat. Stir to combine. Pour over the veggies.This shows it, ready to be covered.

Cover the entire thing with the rest of the piecrust. Crimp the edges securely. Cut vents.

Bake 25 minutes or until you can't stand the wonderful smell permeating your house!

Eating notes:

Ultimate comfort food. Beloved by humans and cats. Worthy of adulation and praise.

The upper crust is all crunchy and the lower crust gets mushy absorbing all the pie-like goodness. People who don't like soggy bread-things should just eliminate the lower crust. Grease the casserole and pour in the ingredients, then put the crust on top. Sort of like a shepherd's pie but with piecrust instead of potatoes.

Christmas Dinner Course 3 - Smoked Turkey Rissoles

So the smoked turkey meat went into the rissoles. They were incredible. If I'd paid thirty bucks at a restaurant I would have felt like it was a bargain. My only quibble is that I couldn't get the edges to stay sealed (you can see in the picture that they split just a little bit). I don't have a crimping tool and had to use my hands. I thought I'd done a good job, but obviously it could have been better.

When thinking of an accompaniment I was drawn to chutney until I remembered I have some spiced pear butter I made this summer. It was perfect.

Courtney's Smoked Turkey Rissoles

Makes 16 rissoles - figure 2 per person as a side. Serve with a chutney or chunky jam or something similar - I had some spiced pear butter I made in October with it and it was absolutely perfect.

approx. 2 c cooked smoked turkey - combination of parts; can also include giblets, but exclude skin or any bones
2 large fresh sage leaves
2 large cloves garlic
black pepper and salt

1/2 c veloute sauce (made using fat and stock from the smoked turkey, if possible)
1 stem from large mushroom, diced into 1/8" pieces

1 sheet puff pastry

Preheat oven to 375F.

Snip the sage leaves into approx 1/4" pieces. Peel the garlic and slice each clove into 3 or 4 pieces.

Combine the turkey, sage, garlic, and a generous amount of black pepper in a food processor. Process until finely minced. Turn out into a bowl and add salt to taste.

When making the veloute sauce, saute the chopped mushroom stem in the butter or fat until just cooked. Then continue making the veloute as normal.

Add the veloute to the turkey mixture and combine. Cool.

Roll the puff pastry very thin. Cut into a 4 x 4 grid of squares. Put a small ball of turkey mixture in the center of each square. Fold the pastry over to make a triangle and pinch to seal. If desired, brush pastry with an egg wash (I didn't).

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes or until done. You can just turn off the oven and let them sit and stay warm after, they'll keep for a couple of hours no problem.

If you have leftovers, don't microwave them! Reheat at 300F for 10 minutes.

Christmas Dinner Course 2 - Smoked Turkey Consomme

I smoked a heritage turkey on the 20th and have been nomsing off it ever since. By Christmas there was just some stock (I thought!) and some meat - both "first picked" meat from the bird and meat from the stewed carcass - left. My intent was to heat and strain the stock and use it as my clear soup course.

When I took the stock out of the fridge, I was *very* pleasantly surprised to discover it was really a nice consomme. Wonderfully jelled and just gorgeous, with a layer of scrap meat at the bottom. I heated and strained it. The result was velvety and divine.

An added bonus - g0t to use my consomme cups!