Turkey Pot Pie

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen sliced carrots

1 cup frozen broccoli florets

1 cup frozen corn

1 cup frozen petite peas

2 medium sized potatoes, diced fairly small

1 1/2 cups leftover turkey

1 1/2 cups leftover turkey gravy

1 can cream of mushroom soup

my favorite pie crust (this pie crust is assembled, mixed by hand, and patted out all in one dish).  To double for a casserole dish, use *3 cups flour, 1 scant cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup water, and a pinch of salt.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place diced potatoes in a large sauce pan and cover with water (make sure water level is about 2" over top of potatoes as you will be adding other vegetables later).  Bring to a boil;  reduce heat and simmer until almost tender.

Place all frozen vegetables into the saucepan with potatoes.  Bring back to a boil, reduce heat to simmer just until barely tender (5 minutes or less; they will continue cooking while baking).  Drain.

In a smaller saucepan, place the turkey, gravy, and the soup over medium heat, stirring to combine.  When warm, fold gently into the drained vegetables in the larger pan.  Turn off heat, and let sit while preparing crust.

Place crust ingredients ( *3 cups flour, 1 scant cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup water, pinch of salt) in a casserole dish, and mix together by hand just till dough forms. 

Set aside about one third of the dough, leaving 2/3 in casserole dish.  

Press out the 2/3 of dough to cover the bottom and sides of the casserole bringing top edges a little above the sides of dish.  

Place the reserved 1/3 of dough between layers of wax paper or plastic wrap and roll out to roughly the size of the top of casserole.  

Pour the filling mixture into the crust in the casserole dish.  Remove top layer of plastic or wax paper from the rolled crust, and invert the rolled crust over top of the casserole; remove other layer of plastic/wax paper from the top of crust, and pinch the crust top and bottom together.  Cut slits in the top.

Place in a 350 degree oven for one hour or until crust is golden.

*measurements at asterisks are already doubled to fit casserole

Note:  If I'm making from stewed chicken and I don't have gravy, I whisk 2 Tablespoons of flour into 2/3 cups of milk.  Add that to the canned soup in the saucepan, and add about 2/3 cup of chicken broth.  Whisk till smooth, and let heat and thicken a little.  Place boned and diced chicken to soup/gravy and stir.  Simmer till warmed through.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Liver and Onions...

Ingredients:
4 slices maple-smoked bacon
2 large onions, sliced in rings
1 pound of beef liver
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp course ground pepper

Directions:
Season the flour with salt and pepper.  Lightly dredge the liver in flour and set aside.

Heat a non-stick skillet.  Fry bacon at medium high temperature till lightly crisped and grease is rendered.  Remove from pan, cut each slice into three or four pieces, and set aside. 

Keeping the skillet's temperature at medium high, place the floured liver pieces in the hot bacon grease, careful not to crowd the pan.  Cook only till outside is brown, not till completely cooked through...this goes very quickly.  Remove from pan and set aside. 

Add  all of the onions to the skillet. Add one to two tablespoons of water and stir a couple of times till onions just start to turn translucent and start picking up the brown bits from bottom of pan.  Lay the liver in a single layer over the onions, and place the bacon pieces on top of all.  Reduce heat to medium to medium low, cover the pan, and let steam till the onions are tender and the meat is cooked through , about ten minutes.

My notes:  My mother used to prepare liver and onions pretty often, so I know how it's done...I just don't really like it, so I don't do it often.  Let me restate that.  I don't like to look at or handle the raw liver...it's actually not too bad once it's cooked.  Mom never included bacon in her preparation that I remember, but it definitely was a great addition.