Ham or turkey leftovers. Does it really matter? #MFRWauthor

Grilled ham and cheese This year I made a big, fat boo-boo. I had in mind to fix a ham for dinner. Ham is something we rarely have, so it sounded appealing—a treat in this year that has been no treat. So I bought a ham. Jack, at nearly the same time, said that a local grocery had turkey thighs and breasts on sale. Since he doesn’t like white meat and I don’t care for dark, and there are only two of us, so we didn’t need a whole bird, that seemed like a great solution. Without conscious thought, we ended up with both turkey and ham for Thanksgiving dinner. Talk about a plethora of goodness! We’ll have a little of each for dinner and then I will cut and package the rest to use in leftovers or to freeze.

So for ham leftovers, I’ll make bean soup, ham and potato soup, ham and mac & cheese, and of course sandwiches. But with the turkey I’ll make turkey pot pie. Here’s my recipe, give or take. I kinda make it up as I go along but this is a reasonable facsimile. I make two—one with white meat and one with dark. I know, I know. I spoil the man but what can I say? I love him.

TURKEY POT PIE
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F

Filling:

3 cups (or so) of cubed turkey
4 carrots (peel if you like. I don’t) roughly chopped
1 med onion, roughly chopped
2-3 celery sticks, sliced
8 oz mushrooms, sliced
1 cup peas

Sauce:

6 Tbl butter
6 Tbl flour
4 cups chicken/turkey stock
1-2 cups milk, heated until warm

Crust:
Enough dough for top and bottom crust (you’ll have too much for a regular old pie plate. I use a large casserole dish for the white meat pie and a pie plate for the dark meat. This recipe makes a lot!)

Instructions:

Sauté celery, carrots, and onion until soft. Add mushrooms and continue until they give up their liquid.
Add salt and pepper to taste if desired. I don’t add either but that’s just us.
Set aside.
Melt butter in a 4 quart pan.
Add flour and stir for about two minutes, cooking the flour and making a roux.
Add stock, whisking as you do to avoid lumps.
Just when the sauce starts to thicken, add milk and whisk until thick and smooth.
Remove from heat.
Add the peas.
Add remaining vegetables and meat and stir to mix. (This is where I divide the mixture to add the different types of meat.)
In your baking dish(es), place the bottom pie crust. (Okay, I’ll confess to using Pillsbury…)
Pour in the filling with sauce and top with the second crust. Crimp the edges closed. Slice two or three holes to release steam.
Bake for about 30-40 minutes, until the crust turns golden and some of the filling shows around the slits.
Let cool 10-15 minutes and then spoon out into a bowl.