Kurnik / Chicken Pie (p141, Art of Russian Cooking)
10 servings
Filling
1 ea (2 lb) chicken, boiled, diced
2 tbsp butter
3 c rice, boiled
5 ea eggs, hard-boiled, chopped
1 tsp salt
1 dsh pepper
Pastry …. Note: Will be doing free-form pies, not in pie pans.
Sauce
2 c stock, chicken
2 tbsp flour
½ c water
2 tbsp sour cream
½ ea lemon (juiced)
Garnish: Dill
Preheat oven to 350F.
Filling: Dice cooked chicken and lightly fry in butter. Mix with boiled rice and chopped eggs, adding salt and pepper. Chill.
Pastry: Put the butter, sour cream, eggs, and egg yolk into a bowl, add the salt and mix well together. Fold in first the plain flour, then the self-rising flour. Mix. Tip the dough out on a well-floured board, knead until smooth and even.
Roll out the pastry, reserving ⅓ for the pie top. Butter an 8x10” pie pan and sprinkle with the bread crumbs. Take ⅔ of the dough, roll it out to the size of the pie pan so that the dough will line the sides. Flour the dough lightly, roll it over a rolling pin, then unroll into the pie pan, trying not to tear it. Put in the filling. Roll out the rest of the dough, cover the pie and pinch the edges together. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Serve chicken pie hot, cover with sauce and sprinkle with dill.
Sauce: Bring the chicken stock to a boil. Mix together flour and water and pour into the stock, stirring constantly. Add the sour cream. Bring just up to a boil, add lemon juice.