Turkey pot pie / Stop and smell the Pie Crust

If you cut me, I bleed pie crust.  I don't know how else to say it.  I just love the stuff.  It empowers me.  I wrap everything in it. I find inspiration and Joie de vivre in pie crust.  It makes me happy.  To see how truly goofy I am about the stuff, see my 11/6/09 and 11/8/09 posts.
Turkey pot pie

1 T. oil

1T. butter

1/4 c. flour

1/2 yellow onion, finely chopped

2 stalks celery finely chopped

1 cup of chopped purple cabbage

1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1/4 t. poultry seasoning
1 Bay leaf
2 carrots, peeled and chopped.
2 small yellow potatoes, peeleed and chopped
1/4 c. frozen peas.
2 cups shredded turkey dark meat
1 cup of the liquid the carrots and potatoes were cooked in
1 cup of 1/2 and 1/2
A double sided uncooked pie crust

 Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Heat oil and butter in a large skillet.  Add onion, celery, salt, pepper and poultry seasoning.  Add a Bay leaf for flavor which you will fish out later.  Cook until everything is soft. Add the flour and combine.  Meanwhile, in a sauce pan, cook the carrots until they are soft but not mushy.  Remove them with a slotted spoon into the skillet and repeat with the potatoes.    

Add the cooked potatoes to the rest and add the peas and the turkey.

Add the vegetable liquid and the 1/2 and 1/2 Cook, turning, until everything is well heated.  The flour and liquid start to thicken into a sauce.  Let it similar briefly.  Remember to find and remove the bay leaf.  This makes a lot of filling, so I use my deep dish pie pans.

Lay the first uncooked crust in a well sprayed pie pan.  Press the crust in place.  Spoon the thickened filling into the pie crust.  Lay the top crust overall.

An interesting thing happened here.  My top crust fell apart.  I've been doing this since before I was a grown up.  For forty years.  Of the things I'm pretty good at, this ranks really high and I messed it up.

Again, the zen of the pie crust.  It is only shortening, salt, flour and water.  What is the worse thing that could happen.  Start over?  Forgive yourself. It doesn't have to be perfect.  Pat it in place and keep going.   Messy pie crust is always better than no pie crust.

Crimp the edges (see November posts).  Cover the crimped edges with foil.  Poke holes in the top and bake for 30 minutes or until bubbly hot.  In this case I brushed the top with an egg white.  I do that with savory pies, but not with sweet.  The result is a different color as it browns.

Remember to be happy.

Turkey Sandwiches

I can't believe we ate the whole thing.   TheThanksgiving holiday makes many people feel warm and comfy-cozy, safe and happy.  The smell of the food, the feeling of it all, the nesting hominess is a happy memory for most of us.  Turkey, sage and thyme, butter and cream.  This is our culture.  Who we are on some fundamental level.

But let's be real.  The traditional Thanksgiving of my past is 2 days of work to prepare and serve and 1 day of clean up for someone.  If you've been that person, it can be overwhelming.  And yet it is easy to feel guilt at not doing this for future generations. 

My usual solution to this problem is a seriously scaled back version.  This year, I roasted a turkey, made mashed potatoes and gravy and a pie.  No greenbean casserole, no yams, no stuffing, no rolls, no salad, and on and on.  I served it on the china.  We enjoyed the smells and toasty warm feelings before, during and after the meal.  I cleaned up as I cooked so it wasn't too bad.  We had left overs for 4 days. More and more, the important thing for me is to be happy, not to be perfect. A hard lesson for me.

My favorite sandwiches are all grilled.  My memories of my mom making grilled cheese are strong and just make me feel good.  To make this sandwich, butter one side of a piece of bread (bakery sour dough here).  The other side is spred with mayonaise.  It goes butter side down in a heavy bottom pan that has been heated to medium.  A layer of cranberry sauce, then turkey, and Brie cheese.  Common left overs after Thanksgiving.  I've done this with swiss and provolone also, if you don't have Brie.

Another piece of bread butter up, mayo down.  The bread gets toasty as the sandwich heats and the cheese melts.  Use a spatula to lift up the corner of the sandwich and peak under. 

When the bread is browned, use the spatula to flip it over.  Be careful to make sure the ingredients stay intact.  Apply a little pressure with the spatula to the top of the sandwich now and then as it cooks and the ingredients incorporates. Just delicious.  One day I may get one of the new fangeled pannini makers, but maybe not.


A piece of pie and a pair.  Shared this all with the husband and we had lunch.