A TRIBUTE TO THE POT PIE

When I think about comfort food, the first thing that comes to mind is pot pie.  I have loved pot pies ever since the days when my mother would serve us classic Banquet pot pies, baked to perfection in their little aluminum foil pans.  She would always buy an assortment - chicken, turkey, and beef - in my mind, the chicken was the best, with turkey running a close second.  I loved the crust, and on those occasions when she would skimp and buy the pot pies that only had the top crust, I was heartily disappointed.   I had a certain way of eating the pot pie:  I would wait until it was cool enough to touch, then I would quickly flip it upside down on my plate, trying to remove the entire pie from the pan without breaking the crust.  Then I would carefully break into the bottom crust (that was now on top) and watch the gravy ooze out before I would begin to eat it, always making sure to have a little bit of crust and a little bit of gravy in each mouthful.  It did not matter to me that there weren't many vegetables in the pie (heavens, no!), or that the pieces of meat were practically microscopic.  To me, the whole story was the savory goodness of the gravy and the crust.

It wasn't until this year, however, that I actually tried to make a pot pie myself.  (I don't know why I never tried it sooner, but I will admit that laziness played a part.)  I had bought a turkey much larger than usual for Thanksgiving this year, and I had quite a bit of turkey left over, so  my thoughts naturally turned to possible uses for leftover turkey.  I considered turkey soup, but when I spied a recipe online for turkey pot pie, I knew immediately what I must do. I finally got around to making it a couple of weeks after Thanksgiving.  The picture above shows the result, and I am here to testify that it was every bit as good as it looks.  No, I did not make the pastry crusts myself - I am perfectly satisfied with the store bought variety.  I had saved some of the turkey broth also, which made a fine gravy. (Here is the recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/turkey-pot-pie/)  I have made a vow to myself to continue this tradition.  Yes, I know that pot pies are BAD FOR ME.  But there are times in life when I just want to revert back to those comforting days when I had a Mom who would cook food for me, even if it just meant throwing something in the oven.  And for times like those, there's nothing that satisfies quite like a pot pie.