When I think of turkey, soup usually follows, and pot pie comes to mind shortly after that. Pot pie is magical. Accidentally overcooked your turkey on Thanksgiving? Don’t worry, you can save it the next day! Cook it in broth, cream, and butter, wrap it in pie dough and toss it in the oven. Thirty minutes later, you have the pique of comfort food. Tender turkey, rich creamy sauce, rounded out with fresh veggies, all encompassed by a flaky crust. How can you go wrong with that?
Growing up, my mom’s pot pie always relied on traditional fillings, but used things like fresh carrots from her garden. Now that I’m all grown up and living on my own, I can put whatever the heck I want in my turkey pot pie! Why mess with a good thing though? This recipe keeps it traditional as well, still using things like fresh carrots, but adding in fresh thyme to give it that vibrant depth of flavour you can only get from fresh herbs.
Just as important (or maybe more-so?) is the pie dough. When Shan and I were planning to make this recipe, she insisted she had the best dough recipe. After digging through her mom’s recipes she pulled out a tiny index card. Scrawled on it, was her great grandmother’s hand written recipe for “Piecrust”, written as though it was one word, joined together in cursive. The recipe did not disappoint. Rolling out to a thin crust, it held up great to all the filling, and remained light and flaky. I guess grandma’s know best!
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- PIE CRUST - makes 4-5 pie crusts
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- 1 lb shortening
- 4½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- ½ cup cold water
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- FILLING
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- ½ stick of butter
- ½ cup diced white onion
- ½ cup diced carrot
- ½ cup diced celery
- ½ cup frozen peas
- 3-4 cups diced cooked turkey (or chicken)
- ¼ cup all purpose flour
- 3 cups turkey or chicken stock
- Salt & pepper
- Fresh thyme
- ¼ cup half-and-half cream
- 1 egg
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- PIE CRUST
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- Mix together shortening, flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a measuring cup, beat 1 egg, then add 1 tbsp vinegar, and a ½ cup of cold water.
- Combine wet and dry ingredients, and mix until combined, but do not overwork the dough.
- Place in a container and refrigerate to store.
- Pie crust can also be frozen.
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- FILLING
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- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- In a large pot on medium-high heat, melt butter.
- Once heated, add carrots, onion, and celery. Cook until fragrant and onion becomes slightly translucent, about 5 minutes.
- Add flour, stirring until mixed with vegetables.
- Add turkey and frozen peas, cooking for about 2-3 minutes.
- Add turkey or chicken stock, and continue cooking until it begins to thicken.
- Once it begins to thicken, stir in half-and-half cream, bringing it just to a boil, then reduced to a light simmer, letting it thicken about 5 minutes. If mixture become too thick, add more broth. If mixture is not thick enough, continue to simmer until thickened.
- Season to taste with salt, pepper, and thyme.
- Let filling cool 15-20 minutes.
- While filling is cooling, roll out two circles of pie dough (one slightly larger than the other). Line a pie dish with the larger circle of dough, allowing for at least a ½ inch of overhang.
- Add filling, then top with second piece of dough, pinching together dough with your fingers.
- Beat 1 egg in a cup, and brush top of pie.
- Bake in oven about 30 minutes, or until pie crust turns golden brown.
Happy Thanksgiving,
Bob
Great looking recipe! Could you provide some extended details in the future on the exact process of cooking next time, though? I’m a bit of a beginner in the kitchen, and I just got quite lost making the dough for this puppy. The instructions are a tad sparse for a newcomer.
Hoping it still turns out great, though! Yours looks phenomenal!
Thanks,
We definitely want to make sure the instructions are detailed enough, where do you think we should add some more detail? The pie crust is one of those old recipes on an index card, from Shan’s great grandma, it may be a little sparse, but we would love to add some more instruction if that would help!
Hope yours turns out!
– Bob