Category: Pie Recipes

There Seems to be a Chicken in this Pie…

My lovely wife seems to have taken a shine to pie-making, and I must say, I couldn’t be more pleased. I guess she got the message of my website (Make Me Some Pie!).

Above is a picture of a chicken pot pie she made recently.

We’ve settled on a pretty simple butter crust recipe that is delicious and the edge of the crust is so crisp and buttery it honestly reminds me of a Ritz cracker.  This is the pie crust recipe we like: Mom’s Pie Crust (via allrecipes.com)

Making the filling for a pot pie, or any meat pie for that matter, really seems pretty easy. Just make a mixture of meat and veggies that you like and that tastes good & put it in the pie… simple enough!

In this case, she chopped and sautéed some carrots, potatoes, garlic, onion and peas together with some chicken broth. She cooked the chicken separately and then mixed it in with the veggies when it was done.

Then fill your pie, cover it with your top crust and I believe we bake at 425 for 25 minutes and then lower it to 375 for another 25-30 minutes.

Making pot pie rocks as well because it is a good leftover food for work, or for dinner the next day (preferably, as it’s better reheated in the oven).

No Comments by Joel on July 23, 2010
filed in Pie Making, Pie Recipes
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Reviewing Ma’s Apple Pie

There’s millions of people that probably swear by their mother’s apple pie, and I’m one of them. However, my sister-in-law Kristen was kind enough to provide the following “objective” review of mom’s pie, from the perspective of a non-pie person:

I’m not a pie kinda gal. I like cream pies, but fruit pies just have never been my preference. My mother-in-law, Debbie, has been making apple pies since the dawn of time [Editor's note: Mom's not that old] and from what I hear, they are to die for. I think I might have tried a bite of one of her apple pies a long time ago, but I don’t remember being swept away. And that was the last time I’d tried a bite until… a couple weekends ago.

Talk about scrumptious! I don’t know what my problem was (probably taste buds that didn’t know any better), but this is the best apple pie EVER! The double crust is so flaky that it melts in your mouth, but it’s strong enough to hold its own against the pie filling. And, oh, the pie filling – fresh, local apples that are so gooey, you don’t want to stop eating the slice.

This is one fabulous pie. Try as some might, it cannot be duplicated. The love, patience, and experience that she puts into her pie makes the end result beg to be eaten in one sitting.

I give her pie 8 out of 5 pies. (That’s right – it’s that good)

Recipe
Well, mom’s not so good about actually sending me recipes, but she told me that she basically uses the recipe out of her old Betty Crocker Cookbook. I found one online from Betty that sounds similar here.

Mom also mentioned something about “the tupperware method” for her pie-crust. I’m going to make her write a post about that later, though. She’s a product of the times when tupperware parties were the the candle parties of today, so that should be an interesting post.

No Comments by Joel on April 6, 2010
filed in Pie Recipes, Pie Reviews
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Still Looking for an Easter Pie Idea?

Still haven’t decided upon your Easter Pie?

Well, if you’re interested in trying a pie traditionally served around Easter in Southern Italy, I spotted this delicious looking Neapolitan Wheat Pie on the Chicago Tribune’s food section.

The recipe comes from Nick Malgieri’s book “The Modern Baker”.  A key ingredient in this decadent pie is wheat berries:

“In much of Italy, wheat is a potent symbol surviving from pre-Christian springtime rites that has become indissolubly linked with Easter. It used to be a widespread custom to sprout some wheat berries in a dark closet at the beginning of Lent. Forty days later at Easter, the thin, almost-white plants would be used as an Easter Sunday table decoration. I remember a couple of pots of those wheat plants decorating the Easter Sunday altar in our all-Italian parish church more than 50 years ago.

So it should come as no surprise that a pie filled with wheat berries is an almost obligatory part of the Easter menu in most of southern Italy. Though the official name of this pie is pastiera Napoletana, many Italian Americans also refer to it as pizza di grano — meaning grain or wheat pie. This classic Neapolitan pastry has a sweet crust filled with ricotta, pastry cream and cooked wheat berries, and is scented with orange flower water.”

Source: Chicago Tribune, Nick Malgieri: Crust Full of Tradition

No Comments by Joel on April 2, 2010
filed in Pie Recipes
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Mad Pientist: Shepherd’s Pie

With all the talk about Shepherd’s Pie lately, I decided maybe making one would help me understand it better.

I didn’t use a specific recipe, but I borrowed the idea of using Guinness and cheese from Kells (which I just recently wrote about). I heard that a friend of mine makes a version of this, so I figured I’d give it a shot, too – since it was St. Patrick’s Day.

Here’s my “Shepherd’s Pie” recipe, inspired by Kells and my buddy who was already inspired by Kells, with a little addition of my own:

1. Made mashed potatoes with butter, salt, sour cream and a little bit of Tillamook cheddar cheese.
2. Sauteed garlic, onions, carrots and peas together with Guinness
3. Browned ground beef with onions
4. Simmered vegetables and beef in Guinness
5. Lined bottom of pan with vegetables and beef, added some salt and pepper
6. Spread mashed potatoes over filling
7. My own “touch” to add something more crust-like was to spread a light amount of olive oil over the top and I sprinkled some crushed up croutons (bread crumbs) over top
8. Baked at 400 for 10 minutes and 350 for 10 more,
9. Spread a little more cheese on top for a final touch

It turned out pretty good, I guess I’d give myself a 2.5 2 out out of 5 rating… not crazy good, but it made for a good meal (plus leftovers)! But, once again, it really was just mashed potatoes with beef and veggies… not much semblance to the standard “pie”, even though it had a touch more crispiness thanks to the bread crumbs. I couldn’t slice it, like a pie – I had to kind of scoop it. So was it a pie? Seems like more of a casserole to me.

But… it occurred to me that when you let it cool more, it really does setup more like a traditional pie and it does become more sliceable. So, I think I feel okay about Shepherd’s Pie being labeled a pie, and I’m sure there are versions of it that seem even more pie-like.

What are your thoughts on Shepherd’s Pie (or things that are called pie, but aren’t pie in the traditional sense?)

Should the potato top on a Shepherd's/Cottage Pie form a crisp crust?

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If you can't slice a "pie" should it count as pie?

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4 Comments by Joel on March 17, 2010
filed in Pie Making, Pie Recipes
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When Irish Pies Are Smiling

Happy St. Patrick’s Day kids. I think tonight I am going to make an attempt at cooking a Shepherd’s Pie… I’ll let you know how it goes. We’ll find out if I can make it sliceable and pie-like.

In the meantime, here’s a link to a few good looking Irish-style pie recipes: http://www.littleshamrocks.com/Irish-Pie-Recipes.html. I think the real key to making an Irish pie is to add one of the following:

- Irish Whiskey
- Guinness
- Irish Cream

Then, voilà!, you have an Irish pie.

On a serious note, my wife and I are tentatively planning a trip to Ireland in the next year, so next year around this time I hope to have some genuine Irish pie reviews!

No Comments by Joel on March 17, 2010
filed in Mincellaneous, Pie Events, Pie Recipes
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What Pie Will Bobby Brown Give Whitney this Valentine’s Day?

Crack Pie.

According to the LA Times, this decadent pie, sold at Momofuku Bakery & Milk Bar in New York, New York is taking (or already has taken) the city by storm.

Well, I don’t know about you, but I won’t be in New York anytime soon. So if you want some Crack Pie – try making it yourself.

The Boston Foodie has a recipe that might come close.

No Comments by Joel on February 11, 2010
filed in Pie Humor, Pie Recipes
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