✯ Day 357 of Vintage 365 ✯
As much as I love and merrily look forward to Christmas dinner each year, I can't help but also adore the additional meals made from the various leftover holiday dishes that follow in the days come after the 25th.
Every year without fail when I was growing up, my mom was guaranteed to make at least two specific recipes with the leftover feast day meat: turkey vegetable soup and today's feature dish, turkey pot pie.
{The star ingredient of this excellent meat pie is definitely the turkey, a time-honoured Christmas food that the world has been enjoying for hundreds of years. This particular vintage cookbook image (which comes by way alsis35 on Flickr) of a roast turkey isn't quite that old however, hailing as it does from a Sears Freezer Booklet from the late 1950s.}
If you've never experienced the joy of a homemade turkey pot pie, are you in one fantastically lovely treat! And if, like me, you already count meat pies amongst your favourite foods of all time, then you'll definitely want to give this rich, flake, endlessly scrumptious turkey version a spin - it's bound to become a beloved classic at your house, too.
Ingredients
For the Quiche Pastry
-1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
-3/4 tsp salt
-1/2 cup shortening
-1 egg
-3/4 tsp white vinegar
-Cold water
For the Turkey Pie Filling
-1/4 cup butter
-6 - 7 tbsp instant flour (aka, Easy Blend Flour)
-2 cups turkey or chicken stock (or 1 cup stock, 1 cup water and on chicken bullion cube)
-1/2 tbs salt
-Dash of freshly ground black pepper
-1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
-1/3 cup sliced celery
-1/3 cup sliced carrot
-1/3 cup green peas
-1 medium sized potato, peeled and cubed into small pieces
-2 cups cooked turkey, cubed
-Quiche crust + 1 egg mixed with 1 tbsp water
Directions
For the Quiche Pastry
In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the flour and salt, cut in the shortening (using a pastry blender or pair of forks) until the mixture looks like course meal.
In a measuring cup beat egg and vinegar, add water to bring total volume to 1/4 of a cup. Gradually add liquid to flour mixture until dough clings together, stir with a fork so that the mixture is very well combined.
Form dough into a ball and roll out on a flour surface, dividing dough into two crusts (as this is a two crust pie). Use right away or wrap very securely in Saran wrap and store in the fridge, uncooked, for up to one week.
For the Turkey Pie Filling
In a large, deep frying pan or a medium sized pot, melt butter over medium heat and add flour, stirring to form a roux. Slowly add the stock, stirring constantly until mixture thickens.
Place all vegetables in a microwave safe dish and microwave for two minutes to soften them up a tad before adding them to the sauce mixture.
Add vegetables, meat and seasonings to sauce, then pour mixture into prepared pie crust (which you've already placed in a deep walled 9 or 10 inch pie dish or pan).
Cover turkey mixture with top crust, seal edges with fork or your fingers, and brush the top of the crust with egg and water mixture (1 egg and 1tbsp water). Piece a few tiny air holes with a fork in the top of pie.
Bake at 350°F (175°C/gas mark 4) for 50-55 minutes or until crust is nicely golden on top. Be sure to watch this pie closely though, as you don't want the rich quiche crust to brown too darkly.
Remove turkey pot pie from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving (as this will help it firm up a bit before you cut into it).
This recipe makes about 8 slices of pie, which should you have any leftover, can be kept (well covered) in the fridge for up to three days.
