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Thursday, January 26, 2017

The 10-Minute Turkey Pot Pie



This really takes more than 10 minutes, if you count the time to originally roast and chop the turkey, make the gravy and mix the pie pastry. And of course, the time spent baking.

However . . .
on the day that I assembled and baked it, that's all the time I had in order to throw it together and begin baking in the oven.  So, in that sense, it was a 10-minute pot pie.

Before those 10 minutes, I had frozen turkey chunks in gravy, from Thanksgiving And, I had pie pastry in patties, in the freezer. To get from here to finished product --

Early in the day I found the frozen turkey and pie pastry, and set out to thaw.

About 45 minutes before dinner, I emptied the turkey in gravy into a glass deep-dish pie plate, peeled 3 carrots and chopped quickly, then added to the turkey in gravy, along with water.  I microwaved all of this for 3 minutes.

While  the turkey, gravy, water and chopped carrots were in the microwave, I peeled and rough-chopped 3 potatoes. I added the potatoes to the carrots and turkey, then microwaved for another 6 minutes.

While that was microwaving, I washed and chopped 2 long sticks of celery and rolled out the pie pastry.

Once the potatoes were about half-way cooked, I added some dried onion flakes, a little more water and chicken soup base, along with the celery, plus some canned peas.  I stirred this all together, and topped with the rolled-out pie pastry.

I was in such a hurry that I didn't even slash the pie neatly. But instead, with one hand holding the pie about to go into the oven, I quickly used the other hand to make 5 slashes into the top of the pie. It didn't seem to matter that it wasn't "pretty".

The pie was baked at 375 degrees F, for about 25 minutes, while I worked on another project. My hands-on time, the day of baking the pie was really just 10 minutes. 10 very rushed minutes. --  but 10, nonetheless.  


Things that saved time -- 

  • I used dried onion flakes in place of more time-consuming process of chopping fresh onions, then sauteing in fat before adding to the turkey and vegetable mix.
  • I used about 1 heaping teaspoon of chicken soup base to boost the flavor, instead of "fiddling" with the seasonings.
  • I had pie pastry in single-pie patties in the freezer, ready to use after thawing. And I only used one crust for the pie, on top where it matters most.
  • The turkey that I froze, right after Thanksgiving was already in chunks, and in a seasoned gravy.
  • My vegetables were roughly chopped. If I'd wanted to save even more time, I could have left the peels on.
  • I mixed the pie filling in the baking dish (a glass, deep-dish pie plate), the same dish that I microwaved part of the filling in, before placing in the oven.

15 comments:

  1. Those type of tips and tricks really do help to get a homemade dinner on the table. I bet it was tastey!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Carol,
      It was quite good! I saved a slice and had it for breakfast the next morning, as well.
      Hope your day is off to a great start!

      Delete
  2. I love pot pies and this one sounds especially good with leftover turkey and gravy. You can tell you're an artist because you mentioned that you didn't take time to make a pretty pie top. That's not usually a concern of mine unless I'm taking it out to an event and even then my main goal is not to burn the crust. It must be lovely to live in your house with all of the attention you pay to the details of how things look. Once again, you're family is very lucky that you have chosen your job to be running the household.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi live and learn,
      ha ha -- it just seems like the "normal" thing for me to do, to neatly present something. But do you know what? No one in the house even noticed. So, it must just be me who seems to think neatness or prettiness matters!
      Have a great day, live and learn!

      Delete
  3. Hi Lili,
    I like how you describe steps and your decision making process to get your job done.
    I also wrap homemade frozen pie dough in my freezer.
    I have a deep hand made pottery pie dish that bakes the dough evenly , crisply, not soggy. Oh my I'm glad I purchased that at a charity sale:)
    I found a bag of soup base and now will add to the " roux" I make with broth and seasonings. I never have left over gravy:(
    I cook up a 50 pound bag of onions in the summer when they are the cheapest. Usually under 10 cents a pound. I wrap up small portions , there is a lot and freeze in multiple bags.
    I add mixed frozen veggies.
    Sometimes I pre chop the poultry before freezing, usually I just do it while making the sauce.
    You're right it is easy to assemble but I have never been able to do in 10 minutes unless I make everything the day before. (Eye wink)
    Ok, now you've made me think about when Im going to do it .
    Thanks for the idea.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Teresa,
      I don't usually have very much gravy, leftover. At Thanksgiving this year, though, I made a special effort to produce an abundance of gravy, for freezer leftovers.
      Great idea to precook onions for the freezer, especially so, when onions are cheap! And frozen veggies are definitely the way to go, when you have them. In past years, I've used frozen mixed vegetables. That saves a couple of minutes, right off the top. I bet you could get a pot pie in the oven in 10 minutes.
      Have a great day, Teresa!

      Delete
  4. I love having pieces of meals ready and on hand. I bet your pot pie was delicious!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Busy Bee,
      It really makes a difference to have parts of the meal all ready to go. And often, doing something like making a large batch of pie dough, doesn't take much more time than making a single crust, or making a large pot of gravy vs enough for one meal.
      I hope your day is going well, Busy Bee!

      Delete
  5. Hi Lili,

    Better, tastier, easier and quicker than what take-out would be that's for sure. It sure looks delicious!

    My son and I defrosted our deep freezer last night and though we found no surprises, we found some treasures. Lots more tomatoes than I had thought. One bag of tater tots that I didn't know I had and more pork than I thought.

    We didn't start dinner before the freezer cleaning because it was getting dark quickly and I needed all the daylight to get the freezer done. When that was done I needed to get to the store because we are in for some bad weather and I wanted to get a few things. Finally I could get dinner started which was garlic honey chicken, a big Instant Pot of pinto beans with a chunk of pork and three lonely potatoes that were baked. A strange medley but delicious none-the-less. And it beat take-out. That Instant Pot is a wonderful thing--I could get a whole bag of dried beans ready to eat in under an hour. No soaking overnight, no cooking for 2, 3 and even 4 hours. The pork in there was to have been shredded and distributed throughout the pan but hubby snagged it and ate the whole thing! Gotta watch that guy!

    Alice

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Alice,
      Good job on getting the freezer defrosted! That's a chore and a half.

      We have those strange combos from time to time, too. It's usually when I need to use things up. However, your dinner sounded very tasty to me. And better to get something on the table, that was made at home, than take-out. So it sounds like a good call, to me! Your hubby probably just thought there were lots of chunks of pork in the pot. But that's kind of funny, nonetheless!

      My son's GF recently bought a pressure cooker. Between you and her, I am getting a lot of positive feedback on them.

      Hope your day is going well, and that the storm coming in won't be as bad as it looks right now.

      Delete
  6. Alice,
    I've thought of getting an Insta Pot.
    Where did you get yours? 'Cause I'm thinking you got a frugal, good deal:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I got mine through Amazon in October. I paid regular price since there was no "special" at that time. I had some gift money so I decided to just get it then. I really like it. Especially since there is no excuse for not having enough time to cook dinner. Even a frozen piece of meat (not something like a whole frozen large chicken) can be cooked in under an hour.

      Alice

      Delete
  7. hmmm....nothing takes only 10 minutes for me!!

    Your turkey pot pie looks absolutely delicious. I should try that one day with our grandsons. They are very picky eaters, hard to satisfy all three palates with one entree, but I think this will be a winner. One kid doesn't like mushrooms, another peas, another anything chili pepper hot, another loves hot and anything seafood, the others don't, on and on. Their next visit is on President's Day weekend, so I need to start thinking of what to serve.

    Have a lovely day!!

    YHF

    ReplyDelete
  8. That does look yummy on a cold day like today. I might have to give it a try!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great minds think alike! I just made a turkey mashed potatoe,canned corn,butternut squash with gravy this week. It was wonderful:) and took very little time. I boiled the potatoes and mashed them. Put the frozen turkey in a pot with water chicken broth and butter. Made gravy with tapioca flour added to the meat and broth. Microwaved the butternut(from the freezer) and a can of corn and it was done very fast. It was amazing to have such a great meal in such a short time. Your chicken pot pie looks wonderful.
    I love creative leftovers.
    Blessings,
    Patti

    ReplyDelete

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