{AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT} Thanksgiving Author Hop: Mari Mancusi

LEFTOVER TURKEY PIE

by Mari Mancusi

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving has always been the leftovers! No matter how many people come to dinner, there always seems to be plenty left to munch on for the next week or so. But sometimes you have so much leftover turkey you couldn’t possibly eat it before it went bad. Or you’re just sick of turkey!

In my family, we’ve come up with a solution. Turkey pies. You can make them, freeze them, then take them out weeks later for a delicious feast.

And best of all – they take barely any time to make!

First, you need piecrust. You can make it from scratch, but the holidays are busy and you’ve got new books to read! Book boyfriends to swoon over. And no one’s going to judge if you grab a Pillsbury refrigerated piecrust and use that instead. Trust me – Great Aunt Mildred will never know the difference!

Place the bottom crust into a pie plate. Then fill the pie about halfway with pieces of turkey. I like to make a dark meat pie and a light meat pie as people obviously have their preferences. But you can mix them up if you don’t have a ton of turkey left.

Then you need gravy. LOTS of gravy. I like to mix the gravy packets you buy in the store with the grease you collected from the turkey while cooking it. But you can make your own from scratch or mix the packets with water as directed. The point is, you’re going to need quite a bit. I’d guess about four packets per pie.

Once the gravy is cooked, pour it over the turkey and into the pie plate. Don’t fill it too high—or you’ll have it overflow during cooking. But get enough to keep all the turkey submerged.

Next, put the top crust on. Press down on the edges with a fork to seal it best you can—else you’re going to end up with gravy leakage. Then add a slit or a couple holes in the middle.

Now you’re ready to cook! (See, I told you this was simple!) Or you can freeze the uncooked pie by until you’re ready to eat it. This way you will be excited to eat turkey again when you finally pull it out – weeks or months down the road.

Since the turkey and gravy are pre-cooked, you only have to worry about the crust browning. Cover the edges with foil to prevent them from getting too crispy. Uncover them for the last ten minutes to make them nice and brown.

Heat the oven to 375 and cook for about 30 minutes. (Or a little longer if you don’t thaw them first after taking them out of the freezer.)

These pies are super simple, but super tasty. And a great excuse to eat turkey more than once a year!