Homemade Turkey Stock & Turkey Pot Pie

   Turkey stock is one mandatory thing we make at our house if we hosted Thanksgiving that year. Its weird how when making the stock, our house smells more like turkey than it did on the day we actually cooked the turkey. We usually make turkey soup, but this time I made a pot pie. After having turkey sandwiches for lunch and saving turkey for the pot pie, there wasn't a lot of  of turkey leftover.

 Pot Pies are classic, whether it be chicken, turkey, or beef. But it seems like every pot pie that I buy in the freezer section at the store nowadays tastes like they added a cup of salt to it. Yuck! Ive made pot pies before and usually I make the pie crust myself, but with my SATs coming up this weekend among a list of other things I have to do, I decided that using store bought pie crust wouldn't hurt any.

 My dad said that this tasted better than the pot pies he used to buy from the store. This pie is packed with vegetables and has a thick, creamy sauce that goes well again the buttery, flaky crust.

Homemade Turkey Stock
Created by Rayna of Curious Country Cook

This method can be used to make chicken stock too

1 turkey carcass
turkey neck
1 onion
3 whole carrots
3 garlic cloves
3 bay leaves
coarse ground or whole pepper corns
5 liters of water

1. Add the ingredients into a large pot and bring to a boil. Simmer the stock for 4 hours.
2. Strain the stock and store in a container and place in the fridge. After several hours (or the next day) remove the top layer of fat and oil from the stock before measuring out and storing.
3. I label quart sized freezer bag with the amount of stock (i.e. 2 cups) and place in the freezer to use for another time.
  >The stock should last about 2 weeks in the fridge or up to 4 months in the fridge.
  >A good stock should be quite gelatinous once it is refrigerated.

Turkey Pot Pie

Created by Rayna of Curious Country Cook

serves: 6-8

1 box Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts

3 tbsp butter

3/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 cp turkey or chicken stock*
2 1/4 cp turkey, diced
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, peeled & diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 medium potato, cooked and chopped
15 1/4 oz canned corn, drained & rinsed
1/2 cp milk
4 tbsp flour
3 thyme sprigs

*I made my own turkey stock, but if you buy it or chicken stock, you may add less salt.

1. Heat oven to 425°F. Make pie crusts as directed on box for Two-Crust Pie, using 9-inch glass pie plate.
2. In 2-quart saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, and celery; cook for 8 minutes, stirring frequently, until tender. Stir in flour,thyme, salt and pepper until well blended and cook for 2 minutes. Gradually stir in broth and milk, cooking and stirring until bubbly and thick.
3. Stir in turkey, corn, potato. Remove from heat and let it cool off a bit. Spoon into crust-lined pie plate. Top with second crust; seal edge and flute. Cut slits in several places in top crust.
> I alway place a cookie sheet under the pie pan while baking just in case the filling was the bubble over
4. Cover the edges of crust with strips of foil and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the foil-brush the top of the pie with the beaten egg and sprinkle with some more salt and pepper, and cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
5. Let stand 5 minutes before serving.