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Paula Deen's Turkey Pot Pie with Leftover Turkey

Compiled by Vicki McClure Davidson

Sassy Paula Deen, a popular Southern cook on cable TV's Food Network, emphasizes easy-to-make comfort foods. Her success on a cable television cooking show was never planned. Both her parents had died by the time she was 23, and the grief this caused for her prompted a gripping fear of death that developed into chronic agoraphobia, keeping her virtually house-bound for more than a decade.

She was good at Southern-style cooking, so used her talents in the kitchen to help cope with her condition. In 1986, Paula had improved enough from the phobia to accept a job as a bank teller. However, she was robbed at gunpoint the following year, and that frightening experience was traumatic for her. However, it was a blessing in disguise, because she decided to stop being a victim and deal with her agoraphobia head-on.

In 1989, after the family moved to Savannah and she and her husband divorced, she desperately needed to earn an income and had to fight her phobia so that she could support herself and her two little boys, Jamie and Bobby. Paula decided to employ her strong cooking skills and started up a clandestine catering service, The Bag Lady. She made sandwiches and other meals, and her young sons delivered them. Paula was later hired by a Best Western Hotel in Savannah to cook. She worked there five years before opening her own restaurant, The Lady and Sons, in downtown Savannah. Paula was able to overcome her agoraphobia with her constant contact with guests. The restaurant was a success and later moved into a larger building in Savannah’s Historic District.

Paula later successfully published a cookbook, and began her relationship with the Food Network in 1999 when a friend introduced her to executive producer Gordon Elliot. She appeared on the show Doorknock Dinners, where several episodes were filmed in Savannah. Paula also appeared on Ready, Set, Cook! and finally got her own show in 2003, Paula's Home Cooking. An appearance on Oprah Winfrey's show, where she shared her inspirational life story, solidified her name across the country with millions of women viewers. Paula Deen cookbooks became sizzling hot sellers, and then in 2004, Paula was happily remarried to Michael Groover, a tugboat pilot in the port of Savannah.

Paula Deen has a mouth-watering Turkey Pot Pie recipe with an instructional video posted on the Food Network site. I love any kind of pot pie, and this is a frugal, terrific way to easily use up leftover holiday turkey.

However, be aware that the Food Network text recipe has some significant problems when compared to Paula's cooking video instructions (embedded below).

For starters, the text recipe states to use "1 large turkey skinned, cooked, boned and cubed."

Huh? An entire turkey? To serve 4 people? Hardly. Does no one proofread the recipes posted at Food Network?

Based on Paula's turkey pot pie demo video, it looks like 1 cup, perhaps 2 cups, of cooked, cubed leftover turkey is used — NOT a whole turkey, for goodness sake. Additionally, in the video demo, Paula pours in 1 cup of whole milk, whereas the recipe states 1/2 cup milk; it could be that whoever transcribed the recipe cited the amount of milk to be used in the egg-milk glaze for the pie crust lattice, but forgot to include the milk mixed in with the canned cream soups. Paula also uses one whole diced onion, yet the text recipe states two medium onions are used.

However, while the milk measurement and onion errors are relatively minor, and that turkey error is just darned silly, this next one is a potential disaster.

Paula puts in one can of whole, jellied cranberry sauce. The text recipe, however, does not call for cranberry sauce, but for two cups of cranberries. While it's not specified, one would assume from the recipe that fresh cranberries are used. Uncooked fresh cranberries need to be boiled for at least 5 minutes, until their skins pop, when making a cranberry sauce. Good chance that since this quick dish goes into the oven for just 5 minutes that fresh whole cranberries would not be completely cooked. Sugar is also typically added when making homemade cranberry sauce, and there is no mention of it in the text recipe. On the other hand, I don't see why using fresh cranberries that have been ground up in advance or boiled for a minute or two with some sugar before being added would present a problem. However, that's not what Paula demonstrated in the video presentation.

Additional note: she doesn't show brushing the pastry lattice work with the egg-milk mixture before it goes into the oven. So, it's possible that you can omit that step. Your call. Likewise with the salt and pepper listed in the text recipe, but which are not included in Paula's video demo. This recipe is simple enough that you can easily make any number of substitutions. While I like that she uses butternut squash in this pot pie, pre-cooked diced potatoes could be used instead.

One more strange error: The recipe on the Food Network site claims that this pot pie will serve 4 — and yes, it definitely will, but it seems like the resulting pot pie is big enough to easily feed 6 or 8 people, depending on serving sizes and if side dishes are also being served. Be aware that there should be enough filling leftover to make a second turkey pot pie (the original text recipe implies that several pot pies can be made, but never clearly states it), or it can be heated and served at a later meal as a thick, hearty turkey cream soup.

Here's Deen's instructional video for making her leftover turkey pot pie. The browned, puffed-up pastry lattice work on the top of the pie is spectacular.

Here is the text of the recipe from Food Network, with the aforementioned corrections made. To read the original recipe, click here.

Paula Deen's Turkey Pot Pie

1 sheet frozen puff pastry
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk (use small amount for glaze, the rest to mix in with other ingredients)
2 (11-ounce) cans condensed Cheddar cheese soup
2 (10 3/4-ounce) cans cream of celery soup
1 to 2 cups leftover cooked turkey, white and dark meat, cubed
1 large onion, diced
2 cups pre-cooked butternut squash, diced
1 can of whole, jellied cranberry sauce
Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the crust, dust surface with flour. Cut 1 sheet of frozen puff pastry dough into 1-inch strips, 8 inches long. On a large cookie sheet, weave the strips into a lattice large enough to cover the top of the pot pie. Mix beaten egg and small amount of milk together and brush onto each lattice strip. Bake for 5 minutes. Dough will rise and turn light golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet and set aside until ready to assemble pie.

In a large saucepan, heat the soups and milk. Stir in turkey, onion, squash, cranberry sauce, salt, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil. In an oven-proof dish, fill with mixture and top with the pre-baked lattice square. Bake for 5 minutes until mixture is bubbly and puff pastry is deep golden brown.

Cook's Note:

-Cutting the puff pastry with a fluted-wheel creates elegant edges.

-Good substitutions for Cheddar cheese soup are cream of chicken soup and cream of mushroom soup.

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Sources:
About.com: Gourmet Food website, (http://gourmetfood.about.com/od/chefbiographie1/p/pauladeenbio.htm).
Deen, Paula H., The Lady & Sons Just Desserts: More Than 120 Sweet Temptations from Savannah's Favorite Restaurant, Simon & Schuster, NY, NY, 2002.
Food Network website, "Paula Deen," (www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/dutch-oven-peach-cobbler-recipe/index.html).
Internet Movie Database, "Paula Deen", (www.imdb.com).

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Paula Deen's Turkey Pot Pie with Leftover Turkey