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Prep time
1 hour
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Cook time
45 minutes
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Serves
8, with appropriate side dishes
Author Notes
My educated guess is that aside from the Roast Chicken recipe I make, this Pie is a crowd favorite - actually it surpasses the chicken in popularity among the Millennial age group. I have tweaked a recipe originating from Finland, as described in the TimeLife Foods of the World series, to accommodate those who prefer to use ground turkey, changed up the proportions, and have made the instructions for the pie crust adaptable to a cook using a favorite pie crust recipe. To make this process super easy for new cooks, I adapted the idea of using a boxed Pie crust mix with the simple addition of sour cream and an egg to moisten and fortify the dough. I serve this dish with any kind of potato side (mashed or scalloped are divine), cranberry sauce, fresh applesauce, and a nice horseradish cream sauce. We have fun decorating the pie, and as you can see, distinguish by name the two kinds of pies. This is a nice party dish, and much easier on the budget than a Beef Wellington. This dish easily covers off on more than two meals, and served cold with all the fixings is a totally acceptable option.
How is this pie made with love? Well, it’s a group event. At any large gathering, friends and family decide how the pies are decorated. What is the word or saying we are putting on the pie? Do we fashion the name of a person whose birthday we are celebrating? Are we proclaiming our political views? Maybe we are using cookie cutters to heighten a holiday mood. In any event, the favorite pie is the centerpiece of a gathering of people who love to be together. —Bevi
Ingredients
- For the Crust
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2
batches of your favorite savory pie crust recipe, assuming there is no sour cream or egg in the recipe
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2
eggs
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2
generous dollops of sour cream
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flour for working the pie crust dough
- For the Meat or Turkey Pie Filling
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2 pounds
organic ground beef OR ground turkey
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4 tablespoons
butter, or 2 TBS. butter and 2 TBS. oil
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8 ounces
mushrooms, chopped
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1/2 cup
onions, finely chopped
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1/3 cup
parsley, finely chopped
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1 cup
Cheddar, Fontina, or Swiss cheese, grated
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1/4 cup
milk
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Salt and pepper, to taste
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1
egg, mixed with a little milk, for an egg wash
Directions
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Prepare a double batch of your favorite one-pie crust. If your recipe calls for adding ice water or other liquid to the dry ingredients, first add 2 eggs and 2 dollops of sour cream in place of the water to enrich the dough. The dough will be moist, so there will probably be no need to add water, but you be the judge. Shape into 2 disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
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In the meantime, prepare the the meat filling. Add the fat to a very large skillet, and when the butter foam subsides, saute the chopped mushrooms over medium heat, stirring often, for about 6 minutes. Then, add the ground meat of your choice and cook for another 8 or 10 minutes, until all the pink of the meat disappears and any liquid from the mushrooms and meat has evaporated. Drain the meat and mushrooms by pouring into a colander, to remove extra liquid.
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Place the cooked meat and mushroom filling into a very large mixing bowl. Add the raw onions, parsley, cheese, and milk. Mix thoroughly, and season with salt and pepper to taste.
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Now, roll out one disk of dough, using extra flour as necessary, into an approx. 8" x 13" rectangle. Transfer the dough rectangle to a baking sheet pan.
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Place the meat filling on top of the dough slab, roughly shaping it into a mounded pile to resemble a rectangular loaf of bread, or like a traditional meat loaf. Make sure you leave about a 1 inch margin around the outer edge of the dough so you can fit the cover dough slab onto the edge. Roll out the second slab of dough to be slightly larger in size than the first, as it will be draped over the mound of meat.
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Press the edges of the two dough sheets together, trim around the edges, but leave enough dough to fold over and crimp the conjoining edges with a fork. Use extra dough for decorating the pie. Please see the photos for some inspiration!
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Brush the entire pie with the egg wash, prick vents using fork tines all over the pie, and bake for about 45 minutes, until the pie is golden brown. Enjoy!
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