Savory Pies

Beef Pot Pie

This recipe was found in America’s Test Kitchen Slow Cooker Revolution Spring 2013 magazine

Ingredients:

1 Tblsp	Vegetable oil
1 ½ lbs	Onion, halved and sliced thin
5 oz	White mushrooms, trimmed and halved if small or quartered if large
1	Carrot, peel and sliced ¼ inch thick
1 ½ Tblsp	Tomato paste
1 Tblsp	Minced fresh thyme or ½ tablespoon dried
2	Garlic cloves, minced
1/8 cup	All-purpose flour
¾ cup	Low-sodium chicken broth
1/8 cup	Dry red wine
½ Tblsp	Soy sauce
1 lb	Boneless beef chuck-eye roast, pulled apart at seams, trimmed, and cut into ¾ -inch pieces
	Salt and pepper
½ cup	Frozen peas
1	All-butter crust

Directions:

1.  Heat oil in 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering.  Add onions, mushrooms, carrots, tomato paste, thyme, and garlic and cook until vegetables are softened and lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes.  Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in broth and wine, scraping up any browned bits and smoothing out any lumps; transfer to slow cooker.

2.  Stir soy sauce into slow cooker.  Season beef with salt and pepper and nestle into slow cooker.  Cover and cook until beef is tender, 9 to 11 hours on low or 5 to 7 hours on high.  Let beef filling settle for 5 minutes, then skim fat from surface using large spoon.  Stir in peas and season with salt and pepper to taste.

3.  Adjust oven rack to the middle position and heat oven to 425°F.  Evenly distribute filling to pie plate.  Gently lay crust over top of filling, then trim and crimp edges, and cut 4 vent holes in top of each crust.

4.  Place pie on rimmed baking sheet and bake until crust is deep golden brown, about 25 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking.  Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Chicken Pot Pie with Bacon and Corn

This recipe comes from The New Best Recipe Cookbook

Ingredients:

CRUST
1 recipe	Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuit Topping
FILLING
1 ½ lbs	Boneless, skinless chicken breasts and/or thighs
2 cups	Low-sodium chicken broth
4 oz	Bacon (about 4 slices), cut crosswise into 1/2-inch strips
1	Medium –large onion, chopped fine
3	Medium carrots, peeled and cut crosswise ¼ inch thick
2	Small celery ribs, cut crosswise ¼ inch thick
	Salt and ground black pepper
4 Tbsp	Unsalted butter
½ cup	Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 ½ cups	Milk
½ tsp	Dried thyme
3 Tbsp	Dry sherry
2 cups	Fresh or frozen corn
3 Tbsp	Minced fresh parsley leaves

Directions:

1.  Make the biscuit topping and refrigerate it until ready to use. 

2.  Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Put the chicken and broth in a small Dutch oven or stockpot over medium heat.  Cover, bring to a simmer, and simmer until the chicken is just done, 8 to 10 minutes.  Transfer the chicken to a large bowl, reserving the broth in a measuring cup.

3.  Cook the bacon over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the bacon is crisp, about 6 minutes.  Remove the bacon form the pan with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  Cook the onion, carrots, and celery in the bacon fat.  Sauté until just tender, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  While the vegetables are sautéing, shred the meat into bite-size pieces.  Transfer the cooked vegetables to a bowl with the chicken.  Add the drained bacon to the bowl with the chicken and the cooked vegetables; set aside.

4.  Heat the butter over medium heat in the again-empty pan.  When the foaming subsides, add the flour; cook about 1 minute.  Whisk in the reserved chicken broth, the milk, any accumulated chicken juices, and the thyme.  Bring to a simmer, and then continue to simmer until the sauce fully thickens, about 1 minute.  Season with salt and pepper to taste and stir in the sherry. 

5.  Pour the sauce over the chicken mixture and stir to combine.  Stir in the corn and parsley.  Adjust the seasonings. (The mixture can be covered and refrigerated overnight; reheat before topping with the biscuits.)  Pour the mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan (or shallow baking dish of similar size) or six 12-ounce ovenproof dishes.  Top with the buttermilk biscuits.  Bake until the biscuit topping is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, 30 minutes for the large pot pie and 20 to 25 minutes for the smaller pies.  Serve hot.

Egg, Cheese and Bacon Pie

This recipe was a creation of my own, using multiple savory egg pie recipes for reference

Ingredients:

1	All-Butter Crust, parbaked
5	Large eggs
1 cup	Half-and-half
1 ¼ tsp	Salt
½ tsp	Black pepper
Pinch	Cayenne pepper
1 cup	Mexican cheese blend
7 slices	Bacon, cut into ½-inch pieces

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375°F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven. 

2.  In a frying pan over medium heat, cook the bacon until the edges begin to curl but just before it gets crispy (it will cook more in the oven).  Remove the pan from the heat.  Remove the bacon from the pan with a slotted spoon and place the bacon on paper towels to drain.

3.  To make the filling, in a large bowl, beat the eggs well, until frothy.  Add the half-and-half, salt, pepper, and cayenne, and stir to combine.  Add the Mexican cheese blend and the bacon, and stir to combine thoroughly.

4.  Spoon the filling evenly into the parbaked pastry shell.

5.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown, the top has begun to brown, and the custard has a jelly-like consistency.  If the pie top is browning too quickly, cover with foil for the final few minutes.

6.  Cool for at least 30 minutes.  The custard will continue to set as it cools.

Fluffy Buttermilk Biscuit Topping

This recipe comes from The New Best Recipe Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 cup	Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup	Plain cake flour
2 tsp	Baking powder
¼ tsp	Baking soda
1 tsp	Sugar
½ tsp	Salt
8 Tbsp	Cold unsalted butter, quartered lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces
¾ cup	Cold buttermilk, plus 1 to 2 tablespoons if needed

Directions:

1.  Pulse the dry ingredients together in a food processor fitted with the metal blade.  Add the butter pieces and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal with a few slightly larger butter lumps.

2.  Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and add the buttermilk.  Stir with a fork until the dough gathers into moist clumps.  (If the clumps are still dry, add more buttermilk, a tablespoon at a time, up to 2 tablespoons in all.)  Transfer the dough to a floured work surface and form into a rough ball.  Roll out the dough until it is ½ inch thick.  Using a 2 ½ - 3-inch pastry cutter, stamp out 8 rounds of dough.  If making individual pies, cut the dough slightly smaller than the circumference of each dish.  (Dough rounds can be refrigerated on a lightly floured baking sheet covered with plastic wrap for up to 2 hours.)

3.  Arrange the dough rounds over the warm filling and proceed with the recipe for Chicken Pot Pie with Bacon and Corn.

Impossibly Easy Cheeseburger Pie

This recipe was found on my Bisquick® box

Ingredients:

1 lb	Lean ground beef
1	Large onion, chopped (1 cup)
½ tsp	Salt
1 cup	Cheddar cheese, shredded
½ cup	Bisquick® mix
1 cup	Milk
2	Eggs

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 400°F.  Spray 9-inch glass pie plate with cooking spray.  In 10-inch skillet, cook beef and onion over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until beef is thoroughly cooked; drain.  Stir in salt.  Spread in pie plate; sprinkle with cheese.

2.  Stir all remaining ingredients in medium bowl with wire whisk or fork until blended.  Pour into pie plate.

3.  Bake about 25 minutes or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.

Sausage and Pepperoni Pizza Pie

This recipe comes from Epicurious.com

Ingredients:

1 lb	Italian sausage
1	15 oz package refrigerated ready pie crusts
1 tsp	All purpose flour
8 oz	Package sliced mozzarella
2 cups	Purchased spaghetti sauce
1 cup	Shredded Monterey jack cheese (about 4 oz)
3 oz	Thinly sliced pepperoni
½ cup	Pimiento-stuffed olives, sliced

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 425°F.  Fry sausage in heavy medium skillet over medium heat until cooked through, turning occasionally.  Drain.  Dice sausage.

2.  Dust one side of one crust with flour.  Gently transfer crust to 9-inch –diameter pie pan, floured side down.  Press into pan. 

3.  Arrange half of mozzarella over bottom of crust.  Spread ½ cup spaghetti sauce over mozzarella.  Sprinkle half of Jack cheese atop sauce.  Drizzle ½ cup spaghetti sauce over cheese.  Top with half of pepperoni and half of sausage. 

4.  Repeat layering with remaining mozzarella, ½ cup spaghetti sauce, remaining Jack cheese, pepperoni and sausage. 

5.  Sprinkle with olives and drizzle with remaining ½ cup spaghetti sauce. 

6.  Top with remaining pie crust.  Pinch edges of crust together to seal.  Crimp edges to make decorative border. 

7.  Bake until golden brown, about 40 minutes.  Let pie stand 30 minutes before serving.

Three Cheese and Onion Pie

This recipe was found in the Cutie Pies cookbook by Dani Cone

Ingredients:

CRUST
1	Recipe All-Butter Crust
FILLING
5	Eggs
1 cup	Half-and-half
1 ¼ tsp	Salt
½ tsp	Black pepper
½ tsp	Dried dill
3 Tbsp	Grated parmesan cheese
½ cup	Grated Swiss cheese
½ cup	Grated sharp cheddar cheese
1	Small yellow onion, diced

Directions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Place a rack in the center of the oven. 

2.  To make the filling, in a large bowl, beat the eggs well, until frothy.  Add the half-and-half, salt, pepper, and dill, and stir to combine.  Add the parmesan cheese, Swiss cheese, cheddar cheese, and onion, and stir to combine thoroughly.

3.  Make and roll out All-Butter Crust.  Place crust in pie plate and trim the edges using a fold-tuck-crimp method.

4.  Spoon the filling evenly into pie crust. 

5.  Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown, the top has begun to brown, and the custard has a jelly-like consistency.  If the pie top is browning too quickly, cover with foil for the final few minutes.

6.  Cool for at least 30 minutes.  The custard will continue to set as it cools.