Easy Thanksgiving Leftovers Pie

Mix the leftover turkey (or whatever poultry you’ve got) with 3 cups leftover veggies. We’re talking glazed carrots, green beans, braised greens, roasted potatoes. It can really be anything. Just chop them down to bite-sized pieces.

Chop up a bunch of parsley. Could be coarse. Could be fine. Don’t leave it whole but don’t work too hard. The point is for this to be easy.

Mix the parsley into the veggie and meat mixture.

Here’s where it gets good…

Do you have any leftover gravy? We’re looking for 2 cups here. If you do, great! Heat it up in a pan to get it loose again and then stir a little bit of it into the cornstarch to make a slurry so you don’t have lumps. Bring it up to a boil so the cornstarch thickens. Pour that over your meat and veggie mix and stir it up. Let it cool.

No leftover gravy? No problem. Let’s make some!

In a large pot, combine your turkey stock and milk and bring them up to a simmer.

In a separate pot, melt the butter and stir in the flour and cornstarch. Keep stirring over low heat until it starts to smell a little like toasting nuts and loses that raw flour smell. Then slowly add the warm stock and milk mixture, whisking constantly as you go to keep the gravy smooth.

Once it’s all combined, bring it up to a boil. Remove it from heat and season it to your preference. We use salt, pepper, a little bit of Crystal hot sauce and a little bit of rice vinegar to balance. Just make it taste good. And don’t work too hard.

Pour that over your meat and veggie mix and stir it up. Let it cool.

Now comes the blasphemy. It’s the day after Thanksgiving. You worked your tail off getting everything together. There’s no need to make a pie crust. That’s legit; too much work for this day. Use store bought. Line the bottom of your pie tin with one pastry round, letting the excess dough hang over the rim. Fill up the lined tin with the cooled turkey-veggie-gravy mix, then drape the top pastry round over the top. Trim it to fit and fold the excess dough from the bottom crust up and over the top crust. Crimp the rims of dough together to your liking. Freeze the pie for about 30 minutes just to set the crust.

While the crust is freezing, preheat your oven 425°F.

Before you bake, brush the top and edges of the crust with some milk or an egg wash made by beating an egg with a fork until combined. Cut 3 steam vents in the top of the crust. Place the pie on a baking sheet to catch any gravy that might bubble out. Bake the pie for 30 to 45 minutes until the crust is golden and the filling is hot and bubbling up out of the vents.

Let the pie cool for about 5 minutes and then get in there. Relax and let the tryptophan take over.