The comfort of savory pies
Familiar shape perfect for turkey leftovers, chili/chips throwback, lobster mac and cheese.
This time of year, it seems like pie is on everyone’s mind.
Pie is always on the mind of Lauren Bolden, the proprietor (along with husband Cody) of Pie Bar, a sweet little pie shop in metro Atlanta. The shop is the outgrowth of a serious infatuation with pies that began when Bolden was fresh out of college and working what she calls a “normal” job.
“I wasn’t loving what I was doing and I started baking pies. I was baking them to the point that Cody was concerned about how much pie we were giving away. We made a deal. He said, ‘Here’s $500 and that can be your pie money. If you want to give the pies away or sell them, it’s up to you. But that’s all you can spend.’”
Bolden decided to sell pie, pushing (as she refers to it) her pie on people until she could get into local farmers markets. “It got to the point where our days were consumed with baking and selling pies. At that point, we decided to quit our jobs, sell our car and just make pie.”
They opened Pie Bar three years ago. Bolden credits the shop’s success to the community’s support of its own and the fact that pie isn’t trendy but timeless, almost always conjuring up warm memories.
It’s that feeling of nostalgia that puts pie solidly in the category of “comfort food.” Sweet pies, like the eight varieties Pie Bar is offering for Thanksgiving (including Bourbon Pecan, Pumpkin Praline and Salted Caramel Apple Streusel), find a place on most every holiday table.
But savory pies take the idea of comfort food to a whole new level. Bolden agreed to create three savory pies for our readers.
The Post-Thanksgiving Turkey Pot Pie turned out to be the most challenging. Experiments with leftover cooked vegetables didn’t fare well, so Bolden designed a recipe that gives the cook a change of pace from turning that turkey carcass and leftover meat into soup.
The Skillet Chili Pie reimagines a Bolden childhood favorite. “My brothers and I all played baseball or softball growing up. It turns out, I was pretty bad at softball, but I could order a mean Fritos Chili Pie at the concession stand. One personal-sized bag of Fritos Corn Chips, extra chili right in the bag, mix in some onions, cheddar cheese and a healthy dollop of sour cream on top. Now that I spend less time at the ballfield, I wanted to recreate this childhood favorite of mine, but in a respectable, adult way. This pie has four separate parts: the corn chip crust, the chili filling, pie assembly and toppings. Each piece of the pie is as important as the other, so don’t skip any parts if you want the classic Fritos Chili Pie feel.”
Finally she created the ultimate comfort food recipe, a Lobster Mac and Cheese Pie. “Mac and cheese is a Southern staple, so growing up in the South, you would expect that my family ate a lot of cheese-covered dishes. However, my parents are not born and bred Southerners, but rather they both hail from the Northeast. Although we never ate many of the Northeast’s most iconic foods like lobster or Boston cream pie (I am one of four kids, so we were on a budget!), I always fantasized about attending a lobster bake and wearing pearls. Years later, I recognize the beauty of growing up somewhere full of rich, full-bodied dishes, yet being influenced by the idea of another region’s cuisine.”
Recipes
Tired of pumpkin and apple but not through with pie? We’ve got recipes for three savory pies, and only one has a pastry crust. All are good for post-Thanksgiving meals and the run-up to the new year.
POST-THANKSGIVING TURKEY POT PIE
You can make this filling up to three days ahead. At a minimum, make it far enough ahead that it is cool before it goes into the pie crust. Hot pot pie filling will melt the butter in your unbaked crust, causing you to have a chewy, rather than flaky pie crust. You can assemble the pie ahead of time and freeze it. Then bake it frozen and add a few extra minutes of baking time.
Note that this is a very generous filling. If you find you have more than will comfortably fit in your pie plate, pour the excess into a greased ramekin and bake alongside the pie, pulling the ramekin from the oven when it’s bubbling all over. Or use a 2-quart casserole instead of a deep-dish pie plate. 3 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 medium onion, diced
½ cup diced celery
2 cups diced red potatoes, peel
on
2 cups peeled, diced sweet
potatoes
1 cup diced carrot
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 ½ teaspoons seasoned salt ¾ cup all-purpose flour
2 ½ cups turkey stock,
preferably warm or hot
1 ⅓ cups heavy cream, plus more for brushing pie before baking
½ pound leftover turkey, a combination of dark and light meat
½ cup frozen peas
½ cup frozen corn
2 teaspoons minced rosemary Salt and pepper
2 all-butter pie crusts Cranberry sauce, to top the pie
Place a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Melt butter and add onions and celery. Cook onions and celery until translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in red potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, garlic and seasoned salt. Stir and continue cooking until potatoes are just getting tender, about 10 minutes depending on the size of the dice. Stir in flour and mix until vegetables are evenly coated. Stir in stock and cook until mixture thickens slightly, about 2 minutes, then stir in cream. Continue to stir as the sauce thickens and begins to coat the back of a spoon, about 5 minutes. Add turkey, frozen peas, frozen corn and rosemary. When everything is warmed through, remove from heat and taste for seasoning. Allow filling to cool at least four hours before baking pie. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a 9-inch deep-dish pie plate with one pie crust. Scoop filling into the crust. Carefully arrange the second crust on top of the filling and use your fingers to gently roll the edges of the dough together to form a rim sitting on the edge of your pie plate. Use the thumb of one hand and the index finger of your other hand to crimp and seal the edges, creating “U” shapes around the edge of the pie. Cut four 4-inch-long steam vents and four 2-inch-long vents and place the pie on a baking sheet. Brush top crust with remaining cream and bake pie 20 minutes on the middle rack. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake until pie is golden brown and filling is bubbling through the vents. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before serving. Top each slice with cranberry sauce. Serves: 12
— ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE PROVIDED BY LAUREN BOLDEN OF PIE BAR. Per serving: 372 calories (percent of calories from fat, 54), 8 grams protein, 35 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 22 grams fat (10 grams saturated), 54 milligrams cholesterol, 853 milligrams sodium.
SKILLET CHILI PIE
You can crush the corn chips by putting them in a food-safe plastic bag and using a rolling pin to lightly smash them. Or do as we did when testing, crush them in the bowl of a food processor. Bolden notes that she doesn’t drain the kidney beans for this recipe because she finds the extra starch in the liquid helps set the filling, making it easier to slice. Personalize your chili to meet your household’s taste. For example, want a hotter version? Try using the hot version of Rotel. 1 (9.5-ounce) bag Fritos Corn
Chips
5 tablespoons unsalted butter,
melted
1 pound ground beef or ground
turkey
1 medium onion, finely diced,
plus extra for garnish
Salt
1 green pepper, finely diced, plus
extra for garnish
3 teaspoons chili powder 2 teaspoons garlic powder 1 teaspoon cumin
1 (15.5-ounce) can kidney beans,
undrained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced
tomatoes, undrained 1 (10-ounce) can original Rotel,
undrained
1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce Black pepper
6 ounces shredded cheddar Sour cream, for garnish Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse corn chips about 20 times to make cornflake-size pieces. Pour melted butter over chips and pulse 5 times to combine. Pour chips into a 12-inch cast-iron skillet and press across bottom and up sides to make crust. Put skillet in oven and bake 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
In a Dutch oven over mediumhigh heat, cook ground beef or turkey until cooked through. Drain off almost all fat, leaving about a tablespoon in the pan. Remove
cooked meat from skillet and set aside. Add onion and a pinch of salt to Dutch oven and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add green peppers and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Return meat to the Dutch oven and reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in chili powder, garlic powder and cumin. Add beans, diced tomatoes, Rotel and tomato sauce. Simmer chili uncovered on low heat for 10 to 15 minutes or until chili thickens. Season to taste. Remove chili from heat and cool at least 10 minutes before proceeding.
Pour chili into the baked corn chip crust. Sprinkle evenly with cheddar and bake until cheese has melted and filling is set, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool 10 minutes before serving. Top with sour cream and diced onion and green pepper, as desired. Serves: 16 — ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE PROVIDED BY LAUREN BOLDEN OF PIE BAR. Per serving: 296 calories (percent of calories from fat, 61), 11 grams protein, 18 grams carbohydrates, 3 grams fiber, 21 grams fat (8 grams saturated), 45 milligrams cholesterol, 452 milligrams sodium.
LOBSTER MAC AND CHEESE PIE
This pie lends itself to personalization. Bolden likes the combination of extra sharp cheddar and Gruyere. But if your family is into a milder version, then mild cheddar will do just fine.“Three varieties of cheese in one recipe might seem excessive, but I find each cheese has unique characteristics that add to the dish.”Bolden likes the combination of both white and yellow cheddar, but double up on one or the other and you can cut one item off your shopping list.
And you can make the dish a little less rich by reducing the amount of heavy cream and substituting an equal quantity of w holemilk,orevengothe skim milk route.
We tested this recipe by cooking fresh 3- to 4-ounce lobster tails. We brought a pot of lightly salted water to a boil, then added the lobster tails and cooked them 3 minutes. Then we removed them from the water and used that pot of water to cook the macaroni. You can also substitute frozen lobster or even imitation lobster or crab. The three lobster tails yielded 8 ounces of lobster meat. Salt
1(8-o unce) box jumbo
elbow macaroni 5 tablespoons unsalted
butter, divided
1 small shallot, finely diced 3 tablespoons all-purpose
flour
1cup whole milk, room
temperature
1 cup heavy cream, room
temperature
4 ounces Gruyere, grated 4 ounces extra sharp yellow
cheddar, grated
4 ounces extra sharp white
cheddar, grated
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
powder, or to taste Black pepper
1/2 pound cooked lobster meat, cut into small chunks 1/2 sleeve of unsalted saltine crackers (about 20), finely crushed
1 1/2 teaspoons Old Bay
seasoning Parmesan, to top pie, if
desired
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 10inch deep-dish pie plate.
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. If cooking lobster, see note above. Add macaroni and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside.
In a large saucepan, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Cook shallot until translucent, about 2 minutes. Stir in flour, whisking well to eliminate all lumps. The mixture will form a paste. Cook until golden brown, about 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Turn heat to low and add milk and cream. Continue to whisk until mixture thickens and can coat the back of a spoon, about 4 minutes. remove from heat. Stir in Gruyere, yellow cheddar and white cheddar. Stir to combine. Add cayenne and season to taste with salt and pepper. Add macaroni and lobster and mix well. Pour into prepared pie plate.
Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter. In a medium bowl, combine cracker crumbs, Old Bay seasoning and melted butter and sprinkle over macaroni and cheese. Bake 20 minutes or until macaroni and cheese is bubbling and cracker crumbs have browned. Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes before serving. If desired, sprinkle with Parmesan when serving. Serves: 8
— ADAPTED FROM A RECIPE PROVIDED BY LAUREN BOLDEN OF PIE BAR.
Pers erving: 533 calories (percent of calories from fat ,59),23 grams protein, 32 grams carbohydrates, 1 gram fiber, 35 grams fat (21 grams saturated), 137 milligrams cholesterol, 447 milligrams sodium.