Turkey Leftovers … “Cream” of Turkey Rice Soup and Pot Pie

I had tucked away some turkey leftovers (turkey gravy, diced breast meat and roasted carcass) at Thanksgiving and decided to finally clear them out of my freezer.

The cream of turkey rice soup came about because I inadvertently let my turkey stock boil (company came, I THOUGHT I had turned off the heat and covered the pot to let it cool). An attempt to clarify the approximately two liters of stock by adding a single beaten egg white, boiling and straining through cheese cloth … did NOT work.

Before and After “Clarifying” Stock

I added some leftover mushroom gravy made with the turkey stock, to a large saucepan, about 4 cups of stock, 1/4 cups of raw long grain rice and a few veggies. No actual cream or potatoes were used.

Not pretty, but delicious.

Turkey Pot Pie with a lard pastry crust

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Beef Duo – Curry and Individual Pot Pies

NOTE: I made the curry and the duck fat pastry as directed by the recipes in the links … ok, I used water instead of vodka in the pastry cause I didn’t want to waste the vodka. The filling for the pot pies started with the recipe on Allrecipes but I made some changes as briefly noted below.

I made the mistake of freezing an entire tray (2.6 lbs) of stewing beef when I brought it home so I wanted to get creative when I cooked it.

I recently saw an intriguing recipe for Punjabi Beef and Spinach curry which I wanted to make. It’s not a pretty dish when done, but the combination of herbs and spices sounded like they’d make a flavourful dish. I browned all the beef and set aside 1 pound for the second dish, a pot pie.

Beef pot pies are a great way of stretching your meat to serve more people and getting some veggies into your diet at the same time. I chose to do individual pies so I could freeze away the extras for future meals without worrying about the filling oozing out and making a mess or drying out.

Inside the pot pie … I think I need to make a bit more gravy but just adding some more broth which would make the gravy thinner should solve the issue.

I used a beef pot pie recipe that I found on Allrecipes though I made some adjustments to the technique including making a roux based gravy, with the liquid used to simmer the beef (~1/2 cup), to which I added a rounded tablespoon of dried French onion soup mix and about a cup of chicken stock.

And, instead of a frozen pie crust, I made a flavourful pastry with some duck fat instead of using all butter.

Turkey Pot Pie with Cheesy Drop Biscuit Topping

A while back I broke down a turkey and prepared the breasts and legs separately. One of the roasted breasts was taken off the bone, wrapped up and frozen for another day.

Today was that day.

I made the classic turkey pot pie with cooked diced turkey, cooked carrots and peas in a combined bechamel/veloute sauce. Sometimes, I’ll add dried French onion soup mix to the sauce but this time I didn’t bother. Instead, I went a bit fancy with a cheesy drop biscuit topping rather than my usual biscuit/scone topping. I’ve included both biscuit recipes below so you can use whichever you prefer.

Chicken/Turkey Pot Pie with Onion Gravy – serves 6

2 cups diced cooked chicken or turkey meat (mixture of light and dark)
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp butter (or margarine)
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken or turkey broth
1 tbsp French onion soup mix (optional)
1 cup cooked carrots
1 cup frozen peas, thawed or canned
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 deg Fahrenheit.

Warm up the milk and stir in the onion soup mix.

Melt butter over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the flour and cook for a few minutes and then whisk in the milk, a little at a time. Then add the broth. Continue stirring until the entire mixture comes to a boil and then cook for an additional minute.

In a large casserole dish, mix together chicken, carrots and peas.

Pour the onion gravy over the top and stir gently so everything is combined.

Bake for 45 minutes. Raise the heat to 425 deg Fahrenheit and place the biscuit circle on top of the turkey mixture in the casserole dish and bake for an additional 12-15 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the underside is set. **Or, cut the biscuits into individual wedges and bake on a buttered baking sheet.

Biscuit topping

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter (or margarine)
2/3 cup milk (or buttermilk)

Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together. Using two knives or a pastry blender cut in the butter til it’s the size of peas. Pour in the milk and fork together til it starts to form into a ball. Knead gently 10-12 times in bowl. Pat out into a circle that will fit snugly into the casserole dish over the pot pie mixture. Place the crust on top of the meat/veggie/gravy mixture.

Bake til the bottom of the crust is set, which should take another 12-15 min.** (Or, butter a baking sheet, cut the biscuit circle into 6 wedges, put the wedges on the sheet and bake there instead.)

To serve, cut through biscuit crust and scoop out appropriate amount of filling. Or put a wedge of biscuit on a plate and serve the filling on top or alongside the biscuit.

You can also make this in 6 individual 1-cup ramekins, cutting biscuit dough into rounds to fit on top.

NOTE: Check the underside of the crust to make sure it’s done at the bottom. If the crust is too thick, it will remain uncooked while the top is browned so you may have to cover it with foil and continue baking for at least another 15 minutes. For this reason, baking the crust separately is the safer method.

Drop Biscuit Alternative

Cheesy Drop Biscuits – makes 12-16 drop biscuits depending on size of spoon used

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 oz fresh Parmesan cheese, grated (or cheddar cheese)
1 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup whole milk

NOTE: This recipe assumes you’re baking your pot pie in a 9-10 inch cast iron skillet. If you’re using a casserole dish you’ll have leftover biscuit batter and your biscuit layer will be thick enough to need to be covered and baked another 15 minutes or so.

Preheat oven to 450 deg Fahrenheit.

In a large mixing bowl combine flour, cheese, baking powder, sugar and salt. Whisk to combine well. Add butter and milk. Stir to combine.

Drop biscuits by the rounded tablespoon full on top of pot pie.

Place the casserole dish or cast iron skillet on a cookie sheet and then slide into the oven. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until biscuits are golden brown. (Test to see if underside of biscuits are done. If they need additional baking, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil, shiny side up, and continue baking for another 10-15 minutes. Let sit covered for 5 minutes before serving.)

Sprinkle with fresh parsley, serve and enjoy.

I had some leftover breast that I didn’t use in the pot pie (as well as some turkey gravy) so I ate this the day before.