Elinor Klivans - Pot Pies: Yumminess in a Dish

Potpie fillings come in unlimited combinations, but their common thread is that they use simple cooking methods. Potpie techniques run the gamut from simply stirring shrimp with seasonings and butter for a shrimp scampi filling to slow-cooking a chicken in a rich red wine sauce.

Potpie fillings have some common characteristics. The ingredients should be bite-size. Any ground meat, meat, or chicken should be cooked thoroughly before being baked with the topping. Meat that is not ground, such as the steak in a Swiss steak potpie, is also cooked before it is baked as a potpie. The purpose of the final baking in the oven is to heat the filling and bake the topping. An exception is seafood or fish that cook quickly. These can be baked along with their topping. Fillings can include either a simple sauce or gravy or a moist filling, such as that for a ground beef and onion empanada. The baking container should be large enough to leave space between the filling and topping so that the filling does not bubble up through the topping and saturate it.

A method often used for cooking potpie fillings is to soften or brown the vegetables or meat in a small quantity of oil or butter. Then liquid is added to simmer the ingredients to the level of doneness. The cooked filling should cool (often for about 15 minutes) before adding a topping. A crust could soften and melt if put on top of a steaming hot filling.

Potpies have toppings (often crust, but not always), but no bottom crusts. A nice bonus is that there is no possibility of a soggy bottom crust. The topping choices are as varied as those of the fillings. Toppings include crusts of many kinds: phyllo pastry, mashed potatoes, sliced potatoes, biscuits, dumplings, a quick soda bread, tortillas, nut crumbles, or breadcrumb crusts. Crusts can be made from scratch, or a good quality store-bought one can be used. Toppings and fillings can be mixed and matched. I have given some crust choices in the recipes, but if your taste runs to mashed potatoes rather than a pastry crust, that is fine. There are no potpie police in this pie world, and personal taste is a good guide.

PEELING TOMATOES AND POTATOES EASILY

Tomatoes Have ready a large bowl filled with water and ice cubes. Half-fill a medium or large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Use a slotted spoon to gently drop the tomatoes into the water. Leave for 30 seconds and use the spoon to remove the tomatoes to the ice water. As soon as they are cool enough to handle, remove the tomatoes from the cold water, and slip off and discard the skins. The tomatoes are ready to use.

When it is not tomato season, peeled canned tomatoes make a good tomato choice.

Potatoes Put the potatoes in a medium or large saucepan (depending on the quantity of potatoes) and add water to cover by at least 1 inch. Bring the water to a boil. Loosely cover the pot and cook the potatoes for 20 minutes. The outside (about 1/2 inch deep) will be soft and the inside still firm. If the potatoes need to cook completely, continue cooking them until they test tender with a fork, about 20 additional minutes depending on the size of the potatoes. Put a colander in the sink and carefully pour the potatoes into it, draining off the water. Run cold water over the potatoes until they are cool enough to handle. Use a small knife to help slip the skins off the potatoes.

GENTLE BOILING AND SIMMERING

Many potpie fillings cook at a gentle boil or a simmer before they bake. A gentle boil has a few large bubbles if you are not stirring it. Simmering liquid has tiny bubbles, and most of them will be around the edge of the pan.

Check your recipe ingredient list to see what you need to buy. Pantry ingredients should also be checked for freshness and replaced if necessary. One organized trip to the market saves a lot of time. In all cases, look for fresh ingredients and buy the best quality you can find.