Brielle's Avalon

What do you do with that soup you’ve had 2 nights this week and want something different with what little’s left? Make a pie! It can be any kind of soup, but chicken is kind of ubiquitous. This time I had enough for a deep casserole pie that was less soupy than before, but other times I’ve had just enough to fill a regular piecrust or a couple single ramekins. You could even use it to make a few pasties for lunches. What you make is up to you and what you have.

When the pot of soup gets too small and is less soupy, add some barley, let it reduce into a stew and put it in a crust for yet another dinner. If you’re making pasties it’s easier to handle if you let it cool before making the pasties.

2 c all purpose flour

1/2 c (1 stick) cold butter

Enough ice-cold water to make a manageable dough.

Cut the butter into they flour until it’s rough and looks sandy. Add the water a bit at a time til it’s thick and manageable.

Divide into 2 lumps and roll out to line a casserole or pie tin.

Roll out the other half, fill the shell with stew filling and cover with the other slab of dough, crimping the 2 halves together. Cut a hole in the center or a few around the top to let steam out. be as decorative as you want.

Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Serve as dinner main course, as just dinner (it is a balanced meal, after all), as a side dish or as lunch. Having some bread to sop the juices is yummy, especially if it’s home made bread. Serve with or without condiments. Mustard, chutney, piccalilli, ploughman’s pickle, sour cream or whatever suits you. It goes well with milk, cider, soda, beer or a nice glass of wine. This is also perfect for Pi day, especially if you start the day with a breakfast of quiche, continue with other pies and finish with your favourite pie desert.

If you don’t have time to make a crust you can always pull the emergency crust out of the freezer…one should always have an emergency crust in the freezer. I used deep dish frozen crusts for this. They usually come in pairs so you can make 2 quiches or other open-top pies or you can make one double-crust pie.

Let the filling cool then fill the crust. You might have enough filling for a tray of pasties, so you can make those at the same time. The cheese is optional.

Flip the other piecrust onto the filled crust and put some water along the edge of the bottom crust. Your finger should work fine for this.

Crimp with a fork.

Pierce with a fork in an attractive pattern. You can cut nice sits in with a knife, too. Painting it with egg wash will make it a nice, shiny brown, but that’s optional. I didn’t do that this time.

Bake until golden. Yes, fresh home-made bread is wonderful to sop up any juices.

The first piece out is always a disaster as far as looks go, but it’s still yummy.