Leftover Turkey Cast Iron Skillet Pot Pie

Anyone tired of eating turkey yet? Regardless whether or not Marshall and I are tired of eating it, we are going to have to. His sweet mom packed us two coolers worth of food to take with us when we left Saltville, VA yesterday. Marshall tried to dissuade her from piling it on us but all I had to be polite and accept them, right? We left with at least half of the turkey and all of it will be put to good use.

The first thing I did when I got home was remove the turkey meat from the bones and threw the bones in a Crockpot with onions, carrots, bay leaves, garlic, peppercorns and salt and filled it up with water. The turkey stock simmered overnight on low and was delicious by morning. The stock was put through a strainer and stored in a pitcher. I have almost a gallon of turkey stock to use for the week.

The next order of business will be to make good use of the left over meat. For most of the week, I will try to keep it lean and make some vegetable and turkey soups with carrots, celery, cauliflower. For the last day of vacation, I decided to make a turkey pot pie. To keep things simple, I knew I wanted to make it in a cast iron skillet (one pot recipe.)

One of my favorite purchases recently was a big box of fresh herbs from B.J. Wholesale Club . The box had thyme, sage, and rosemary and huge bundles of each in it. It only cost $2.99. It must have been $10 worth of herbs in that box. Since I had so many herbs, I altered the recipe I found a bit and added sage and thyme to it.

Leftover Turkey Cast Iron Skillet Pot Pie
Recipe Adapted from Paisley & Thyme

2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon of thyme leaves
1 teaspoon of sage, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
4 medium carrots, diced
2 ribs celery, diced
2 garlic cloves, rough chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons half and half
2 cups homemade turkey broth (or chicken broth)
4 cups shredded cooked turkey
1 cup frozen peas
1 (9 inch) store bought pie crust, such as Pillsbury (If frozen, thaw)
1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400° F. Heat butter, sage, & thyme in a 8-inch cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add onion, carrots, celery, and garlic and cook until carrots begin to soften. Season with salt and pepper.

Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in flour. Cook for 1 minute. Stir in half and half and broth, using a whisk, until combined. Stir in chicken, peas, and bring to a boil. Remove from heat.

Gently roll out pie crust on top of skillet and brush with the whisked egg; cut vents in pastry. Transfer skillet to oven; bake until crust is browned and flaky, about 35 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

The result was good but not the best pot pie I have ever had. The first thing I would change is to add more herbs and a touch more salt. The carrots and peas made the dish sweet and I would have liked the pot pie to be more savory. The sauce was also not as thick as I am used to. I would remove the vegetables from the pan, make a roux, and then added the broth and half and half and then added the vegetables back in. Cooking the flour in the vegetables didn't give the flour a chance to cook in the fat first.

It was still pretty good. Marshall and I sat out on the balcony to enjoy this gorgeous November day we are having. It is barely occurring to me that I have to be back at work tomorrow.