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.
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.
