Thanksgiving Leftovers

The morning after Thanksgiving I cut the breast meat off the turkey carcass and put what was sliceable into the turkey sandwich zip lock bag; smaller pieces went into another plastic bag. Next I cut dark meat away from the bones and put bite size and bigger chunks into the Turkey Pot Pie plastic bag. The smaller pieces left unattached from the bone went into the refrigerator.

The rest of the carcass, broken up so it would fit, went into the stock pot along with a peeled and quartered onion, a couple of cloves of garlic, 3 or 4 carrots cut in half, 5 or 6 sprigs of thyme, 2 sage stems, salt, peppercorns and leftover celery tops. Adding water deep enough just to cover the carcass, I turned the heat on high until it boiled steadily, then turned it to low and simmered it uncovered for about 5 hours.

When it had cooled enough to handle the solids, I transferred the bigger pieces of bone and vegetable to a big colander and poured the stock over them into a big bowl. I then hand strained the stock once more before putting it uncovered into the refrigerator to chill. The meatless pieces of bone, all the herbs, vegetables and peppercorns were tossed. Later I pulled all the meat away from the remaining bones, shredding it and added it to the meat already in the refrigerator.

That process provided sandwich meat for 8 sandwiches, chunk pieces of white and dark meat for a turkey pie, enough shredded mostly dark meat for Turkey Ragu (see Pork Ragù al Maialino), turkey quesadillas or tamales and turkey for lots of soup. After the stock was chilled and the fat was removed it measured 4 quarts.

The stock and shredded meat were frozen for later.

Turkey Pot Pie
Serves 4

Hint

About the third week of January my husband begins to look forward wistfully to the Sunday after Thanksgiving and Turkey Pot Pie, the traditional favorite of his extended family. He loves it. Me? I think it’s fun to put together, I love the smell while it cooks and it makes the dinner table look like the cover of Country Living magazine. The taste? About 4º to the right of ho hum.

Ingredients

2 tbs. olive oil
½ medium size yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 fresh carrot, peeled and sliced ¼” thick
8 new potatoes cut into quarters or halves depending upon size
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sage stem with about 4good sized leaves
Leftover turkey (2 cups bite size chunks), stuffing (1-1 ½ cups) and gravy 3-4 cups
1 cup frozen petite peas
1 tbs. fresh thyme leaves or 2 tsp. dried
½ cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped (optional, don’t buy it just for this)
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Enough chilled pie dough for 1 crust
Egg wash for the crust
Leftover Cranberry Chutney

Procedure

Using a 4” deep round oven proof baking dish or a 9″x9” baking dish

1. Preheat oven to 300º. Set rack at the middle level.
2. Spread olive oil evenly over the bottom of the baking pan. Add onion, carrot, potatoes and herb stems, cover with foil and bake for 10-15 minutes until vegetables are just soft enough to prick easily with a fork. Remove pan from oven, throw away herb stems and increase oven heat to 375º.
3. Add turkey, gravy, stuffing, peas and thyme leaves to the cooked vegetables, mixing them with a spoon. Taste gravy and if necessary correct seasoning with salt and pepper. If you have it, add parsley to the top.
   

   Lots of bite size chunks of both white and dark turkey along with carrots and frozen peas. Every bite looks delicious.

4. Roll out pastry dough to a size 1” beyond the rim of the baking dish on all sides. Place it over the dish, tucking it under to make a crust edge. Crimp the edge and cut steam slits throughout the crust. Paint the crust with egg white and bake for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown (you can see in the photo that mine went slightly beyond that.)
   

   The crust needs to be flaky, not fancy. It needs lots of air venting slits to release steam that otherwise would be caught underneath, creating a gooey underside.

5. Take the pie out of the oven and let it cool on a rack for 6-8 minutes before cutting into it.
   

   I want the pie to be juicy, not gloppy. Serving it in a pasta bowl contains the juice. The peas will stay green if they are frozen when they are put into the filling.

Serve with leftover Cranberry Chutney.