Tuck Your Thanksgiving Leftovers into a Cozy Turkey Pot Pie
Welcome to Party Tricks, a monthly column in which bestselling cookbook author and entertaining pro Alison Roman schools us on the fine art of having people over without pulling out your hair.
Even if you love Thanksgiving, you’ve gotta admit, it’s a real to-do. But you know what’s not a to-do? Leftovers Day, the second best food holiday of the year.
Held one to three days after Thanksgiving, Leftovers Day is…the day you eat all your leftovers. It’s a great way to ensure you aren’t stuck with a spoonful of stuffing or weird turkey parts in a ziplock bag that someone (me) can’t bring themselves to part with. My favorite way to celebrate is with other people, everyone gathered under one roof to clean out fridges and compare stuffings. Think of it as a Friendsgiving but without having to roast another turkey.
This holiday can be as low-maintenance as opening a few plastic containers and drinking the rest of the wine you overbought, but occasionally I like to pull out all the stops, which is to say pile everything into a baking dish, cover it with dough, and bake it at 425° until golden brown and bubbling. Sound like a pot pie? That’s because it is, made from the greatest hits of your holiday table.
Here’s how leftover turkey pot pie works: Combine leftover turkey (picked into bite-size pieces), roasted or sautéed veg (fennel, carrots, squash, mushrooms, etc.), and any herbs you didn’t use up (coarsely chopped) in a baking vessel of your choice (13x9" baking dish, 2-qt. oval, anything goes). Mix in any extra gravy or thin leftover mashed potatoes with turkey or chicken stock until the consistency is looser than gravy (it’ll thicken as it bakes). If you still have pie dough, use that to top it off, or try store-bought puff pastry.
Either way, do not forget the egg wash on top—even leftovers deserve to get dressed up.
You know what leftovers go well with?
When Alison Roman hosts, the wine goes in the bathroom, not the kitchen.
Originally Appeared on Bon Appétit
