Lucille's

TURKEY (deboned)

Holiday leftovers....great for a day or so......then what?

My favourite thing to do is make turkey pot pies.

 Nothing better on a busy night than pulling a couple of them out of the freezer and popping them in the oven for dinner.

After the big holiday dinner, strip the turkey carcass and put aside a few nice slices for turkey sandwiches the next day. If you don't, everyone will be so sad. (Try your slices laid out on dark rye or pumpernickel with some dijon, mayo, cranberry sauce and lettuce.)

Then chop the remaining turkey meat into cubes. Add any leftover gravy and other veg, even potatoes. Cook some extra carrots and peas and add along with some chopped onion, s and p and some fresh or dried thyme. If you need more gravy, make some more with some chicken broth or from stock made from your carcass (not yours silly, the turkey's!)

Spoon mixture into oven-proof dishes or little foil pans.

 and then cover with pastry.

 I always make extra pastry when I make my pumpkin pie just for this purpose. I swear (not really but you know what I mean)byTenderflake lard. Just throw 5 cups of flour, a pound of lard cut up and one cup of cold water (every time I add the cold water it reminds me about giving a cup of cold water to someone in Jesus'name!) in your mixer and that's it. It will be a bit wet but that's perfect. You add flour to your board and rolling pin before rolling out. This makes perfect pastry. Trust me!!! (Freeze any leftover dough in pie-size balls for easy prep some other day.)

Now freeze the little darlings, unbaked. When you are ready to eat some, simply bake unthawed at 375 until the crust is nicely browned and the juices are bubbly... maybe 40 minutes or so.

For those of you who eshew pastry, simply freeze the mixture in your little pans then cover with whipped yams or regular potatoes and bake as above.

Remember to buy extra cranberries and stash in the freezer while they are cheaper. Cranberry sauce takes minutes to make and goes so nicely with the pot pies. It keeps well for a long time in the fridge.

If your turkey is passe then remember to make some little pies at Christmas. Or, if there is a sale on boxes of chicken breasts, simply bake of a whack of them, still frozen on a cookie sheet and proceed as above.

Swirled Potato Bake

This second dish won rave reviews at my recent dinner.

It is so-o-o-o yum but also easy because you can make it 2 or 3 days ahead.

Boil about 3 pounds of yams, peeled and cut up in boiling water til tender. Mash and whip in a mixer with 4 ounces of cream cheese, 1/2 cup milk, 2 Tbs butter,  s and p and some fresh thyme if you like. Spoon into a 9 x 12 pan.

Then boil about 3 pounds yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut up until tender. Mash and whip in mixer with 4 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 cup milk and 2 tbs butter, 2 green onions cut up and s and p. 

Layer on top of yams and then use a knife to swirl the two tgether. Refrigerate until about 35 minutes before dinner. Heat through in 350 oven. You can scoop it out of the casserole into a nice serving bowl if you like. Feeds 10 amply.



I so love getting free food. That's what it feels like with a turkey. I fed 10 people plus made 11 pot pies for $13.00....plus a big pot of soup!!!

Move over Martha!!!