Gobble Gobble

So what do you do with all those Thanksgiving leftovers (other than gorge yourself, of course)? While most of the leftovers are long gone by now in my family, there always seems to be a disproportionate amount of turkey still laying around.  Thus, every year Thanksgiving is followed by Turkey Pot Pie.  Really, this is a pretty versatile recipe and you can stretch any poultry leftovers this way.  I really think my family looks forward to this dinner almost as much as our Thanksgiving feast. Also, did you know that you can click on the photos in my blog to enlarge them? (Just saying...)

What You'll Need

Supplies

2 glass pie plates                                                          Can opener

Large mixing bowl                                                        Butter knife

Mixing spoon                                                                 Kitchen scale (optional)

Ingredients

4 pie crusts                                                                    1 can green peas

1 can cream of celery soup                                            2 tsp minced garlic

1 lb. leftover turkey                                                       Rosemary

1 can whole-kernel corn                                                Marjoram

1 can french-cut green beans                                        Salt and pepper

Now Let's Make Turkey Pot Pie!

To start, preheat your oven to 375F.  Open all your cans of vegetables and drain them.  (Do not try to drain the cream of celery soup - accidentally or intentionally). Set the cans aside.  If you're using whole garlic, mince two cloves to equal about two teaspoons of garlic.  Set this aside as well.

Put 1 crust in each of your two pie plates (two crusts = two pie plates). Press the crust down into the plate, so that it is fitted to the sides and bottom of the glass.  Trim any excess pie crust from the pie, using your butter knife.  Cut the crust right at the edge of the glass; there should be no crust hanging out of the pie plate by the time your done.  This isn't really a necessary step, if you'd prefer to do a decorative crust, instead, but it does significantly trim the amount of fat and calories in the recipe. (And, let's face it, after Thanksgiving we need all the help we can get). Once you've trimmed both crusts, set them aside.

Veggies!

In your large mixing bowl, combine the drained vegetables, garlic, and cream of celery soup.  Stir it together until the vegetables are well dispersed and thoroughly coated with cream of celery soup. (You can also cut a few calories here if you're really concerned by using Campbell's 98% fat free soup). This will create a fairly thick vegetable mixture. As you're mixing, be careful not to overdo it and squish all the veggies; they should be distinguishable (we're not making a mash here). 

Gobble... gobble?

Take your leftover turkey meat and begin pulling it apart so that it is in large shredded pieces. Measure out 1 pound (16 ounces) of meat. This is where your kitchen scale will come in handy, because 1 lb. really is the perfect amount, but if you don't own a kitchen scale, don't stress it.  Just eyeball it (isn't that a tasty expression; totally appropriate for a cooking blog) and measure as closely as you can.  When you're measuring out your meat, try to get as much white meat as you can, since dark meat will make for a much gamier pie (unless you go for that sort of flavor). Also, do not let any bones or skin get in with the meat you plan to add.  Bones obviously pose a danger, and getting a hunk of turkey skin when you think you're getting meat is nasty (or gag-worthy, as the case was may be). 

Once you've got your meat parceled out, add it to the vegetable mixture and stir it in. Add marjoram, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste.  I usually add about 1 1/2 Tbsp marjoram and 3/4 Tbsp rosemary, but I typically just throw it in on instinct, so it's hard to give a precise measurement.  Again, make sure that you thoroughly mix everything together.  Divide the mixture evenly between the two pie shells.  Spread the filling into all corners of the pie crusts, but if it's very full try to pile the larger amount in the center of the pie.

Top each pie with your remaining pie crusts. Firmly press the top crusts against the edges of the bottom crust using your fingers in order to seal the edges together. Work your way around the pie, until the edges are completely sealed.  Trim off all excess pie crust.  To finish the sealing process (and to make it purty) press a fork along the edges, working your way all the way around the pie.

Use your butter knife to poke holes in the top of the pie crust in order to release any steam or air that might build up as the pie cooks.  Try to do this in some pattern to increase the decorative effect.  Bake the pie at 375F for about 35-40 minutes, until the top crust is golden brown with no raw spots (raw spots look a little translucent compared to other areas of the crust). Remove the pies from the oven and let cool for 10-15 minutes (or as long as you can stand to wait).

Turkey Pot Pie with Gravy

A serving size is about a quarter of a pie. It pairs nicely with salad or other Thanksgiving leftovers.  I like to top mine with a little shredded cheddar cheese, but it's also delicious with a little leftover gravy. (This picture is sponsored by my Da, who had to wait to eat not-so-patiently as I got the shot just right).

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Sugar and Spice

And yes, both items are ingredients in today's recipe post on Spiced Sausage and Rice. (You can just stop "eeewww"ing about the sugar in a sausage dish).  This is one of those dishes you make when you realize that you're going to have to make do with what's on hand because you were to busy (read, lazy) to go grocery shopping.  This particular dish came out of a throw-something-together night with friends; it turned out so well that I have since taken it and tweaked it until it was an actual recipe.  The recipe below serves 2 - 3 people without side dishes and can be easily doubled if needed.

What You'll Need

Supplies

1 medium pan                                                                 1 cutting board

1 small pot                                                                      1 knife for slicing

1 cooking spoon                                                              1 knife for chopping

Measuring cups

Ingredients

1 cup jasmine rice                                                          1/2 Tbsp ground cardamom

5 chicken sausages                                                         1/2 Tbsp cinnamon

1 small yellow onion*                                                     Dash ground coriander

1/2 red or green bell pepper*                                         Small dash ground cloves

1 small handful light brown sugar                                 Olive oil

Now Let's Make Spiced Sausage and Rice

Double, double, toil and trouble

Measure out 1 cup of rice and set it to the side of the stove to be on hand later (or, you know, run around like a chicken with its head cut off like I do when I forget to measure out the rice, either way). Measure out 1 3/4 cup water and pour it into your small pot.  You can also follow the instructions on the back of the rice bag, but I find you get a dryer rice if you reduce the water by 1/4 to 1/3 cup.  Set the pot on the stove and turn heat to high to bring water to a boil.  Once water is boiling add rice and stir once.

Uncovered rice is indecent

Cover the rice and reduce heat to 2 or 3.  Now you can ignore the rice for a little while, fluffing it with a fork occasionally until done.  Meanwhile, get out your cutting board and peel and dice the small onion.  Put a smidge of olive oil into the medium pan and set the heat to medium.  Add the onions and saute.  While the onions are cooking, cut the bell pepper in half, saving one half for a later date.  Remove the core and seeds from the remaining half and dice it.  Add to medium pan to saute. ("why are there no pictures of this step?" you ask.  Because I needed to go to the store so badly that I didn't have them on hand. Fortunately onions and bell peppers are optional ingredients).

Chicken sausage sounds a little wrong

While the onions and peppers are sauteing, slice the chicken sausage into small dials about 1/3 of an inch thick.  I like to use an off-brand italian chicken sausage, since the "italian" part of that seems to mostly consist of peppers. Also, I find that the seasoning is light enough to compliment the dish. When you're done slicing the sausage, add it to the sauteing vegetables (they should be pretty tender by now).  Use your cooking spoon to move the ingredients around the pan occasionally as you saute to ensure even cooking and prevent scorching.

Just ignore the lack of onions/peppers

Add the 1/2 Tbsp cardamom, 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon, dash of coriander, and small dash of cloves. (And I do mean a small dash, unless you want your tongue to go numb).  You can also add a sprinkle of salt to taste if you'd like.  Stir in the spices until the meat and vegetables are fairly evenly coated.  Now add a small handful of brown sugar to the mixture.  In terms of my hands, this equals about 1/4 cup, maybe a little less. Mix this into the sausage and vegetables until they are evenly coated.  By now you should have a thick, slightly goopy (from the sugar) sauce in the pan. Once the sausage is cooked through, reduce heat to low.

Back, foul demon!

Don't forget to fend off any hungry gatos that might be stalking you during the cooking process.  The black ones are especially dangerous, due to their ninja-like camouflage.  I caught this one deviously eyeing my back as I sauteed the sausage, attracted by the scent of raw meat and licking his chops.  But I'm on to their wily ways. (It also helped that he was perched on a white washer and dryer, but still).

I've nothing funny to say about rice

Now, check your rice. Hopefully it's nice and dry and fluffy (see the pretty picture to the right).  If, however, it is not dry and fluffy and there is instead water in the pot still, then your rice is not done yet. The key is to cook the rice until the water has been completely absorbed by the grains.  If your rice does not seem to be doing this, try slightly increasing the heat (I said SLIGHTLY!).  Keep the rice covered as it cooks, and be careful to watch it closely, since you don't want to burn the rice in the bottom of the pot.

To serve, dish rice onto the center of a plate or into a bowl.  Top with the sausage, and nom.

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