I made this New Year’s Eve with diced turkey breast (freshly roasted) but a bad quart of cream (Great Value brand from Walmart – yuck!) led to me having to throw away the whole batch! I was still craving pot pie though, so the next day I hit the freezer for some ground turkey breast. I love ground turkey breast but it has to really be ground turkey breast, which is 100% white meat and about 7% fat. It’s $1-$1.50 more per pound, but worth every penny. You just have to learn how to jazz it up. This recipe is one such way:
1-2 pounds ground turkey breast (get regular if you’re cheap)
1 bag frozen mixed veggies (I use carrot, corn, pea and green beans)
1 pound sliced sauteed mushrooms (optional)
32 oz chicken broth (look for MSG-free)
2 tbs. chicken base (I use Tone’s, it’s MSG-free)
1 bag baby broccoli florets (I use Schwan’s)
1/2 c butter or oil
1/2 c flour
salt and pepper
garlic powder
pie crust (I use prepared if feeling lazy or in a hurry, I like Marie Callendar’s as it’s less sweet than other brands)
1 – brown turkey in a heavy pot (my 7 qt round Le Creuset is my vessel of choice!) and stir in a glob of chicken base to season it
2 – remove to a plate (you won’t need to drain if you used the 7% fat variety)
3 – sautee your mushrooms in butter or olive oil, add to turkey and then….or skip that….toss flour and butter into pot, stir till butter is melted and roux begins to take on a beige color…about five minutes in my pot
4 – slowly add chicken stock, whisking gently
5 – return turkey to pot and simmer for 5 minutes
6 – add frozen veggies (don’t thaw) and stir
7 – add pepper, see if it needs salt…I usually add another glob of chicken base at this point
8 – simmer, stirring occasionally, until the liquid begins to thicken a bit
9 – add a couple cups of milk, cream or half and half (you could omit if you’re being healthy!)
10 – now, at this point, you can do one of two things. You can simply put one pie crust round over your filling, and bake the whol thing till the crust is beautiful
11 – or, if you are a crust-hound like me, you can dump your mixture unti, a large shallow casserole dish and put 2-3 crust’s worth of pie crust over your mixture, then bake till golden brown
12 – I bake this at 350 and it takes 30-45 minutes depending on what pan/pot you use
TIP: It will run less if you let it stand for 20-30 minutes before serving; we can never wait that long!
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