continuing on last months newsletter on vegetable wedding recipe testing, in this one i’m writing about the savory pie recipe testing.
if you want a spiel on the wedding happening soon you can read about that here, but in short i am developing the menu for the dinner, doing all the prep that can be done in advance (aka making every single pie) + making the dessert. on the day before and day of, i’ll be working with some chef friends who will be doing the final execution of the dishes.
the food tables are inspired by northern renaissance still life paintings, and maybe my favorite part of these paintings are the savory pies. in part because, (i mean) look at them(!), but also in part because i really really love pie.
whether they be flat or tall, tiny or big, savory or sweet — i love pie so much that in under a year i have published two recipes, including one just last month.
pie making was my intro into the kitchen. when i went to visit my grandmother we would bake together and her favorite thing to make was sweet pies. over the years i’ve made countless pies, developing my own style in the process. these days, i make a lot of savory crusted dishes throughout the year (quiches, tarts, galettes, and of course pie).
making savory pies for my wedding feels like an opportunity to share a part of me with our guests and loved ones. it’s also bittersweet because my grandmother now has dementia - she doesn’t seem to know exactly who i am and can’t speak much, but last time i saw her, i told her about the wedding taking place and that i would be making a whole bunch of pies, and it was all because of her, and she smiled at me for the first time in a long time.
i really wanted to have a variety of shapes and sizes to create some dynamism on the table, and settled on making 4 different kinds of pie. i always knew one had to be chicken pot pie (my favorite of all the pies). another had to be a seafood pie as so many of these paintings feature seafood pies. and then the other two i wanted to be vegetarian.
chicken pot pies
this was the first recipe i tested, and had so much fun doing it. i knew from the get go that i wanted these pies to be individual, so guests could easily take them and go. but truth be told, it’s hefty, you could eat just one of these pies and a little vegetable side, and be full (not to mention cake later on in the evening, plus all the cheese and such before) - so we decided that the pies could be halved if guests want, but i digress.
they are made using a pie dolly - and this was my first time using this tool to form pie crust. i enjoyed being able to shape them with the tool and bake them without needing to use a pie dish. for the filling i used a mixture of smoked chicken and roasted chicken, mushrooms braised in thyme, chicken stock, and alcoholic cider. the remaining mushroom braising liquid was turned into a creamy sauce that was poured over the chicken and mushrooms with more chopped thyme and tarragon.
i stuffed this filling into the little dough pockets formed by the dolly, closed them up, applied an egg wash and baked them off. i was shocked that none of them broke apart in the oven. when we cut into them, the crust was so flakey and crisp, the filling piping hot and rich - and the smoked chicken almost gave the whole thing a bacon-y vibe. i am so excited to be making these again soon.
potato gratin pie
in addition to the pies and the vegetables and the fruit and the cheeses, there will be a variety of meats prepared by one of my favorite local butchers, barb. with meat comes potatoes, and preferably the gratinated kind! browsing through my favorite pie book, this recipe for a potato gratin pie caught my eye. i follow his recipe basically to-a-t, but heavier on the cheese and onions (personal preference), and i changed the shape entirely, from a round to a triangular pie.
because of it’s unique shape and height, this pie felt like the most arresting of the bunch. i decided to push this further by adding a lattice effect on top, and braiding at the bottom edge. the pie for the wedding will also have a different kind of crust - fingers crossed it bakes up as beautifully as this one!
tomato corn cheddar pie
it is really hard to pick a favorite, but if there is one pie on this list that i make over and over and over again every summer and early fall, it is this one - and i’m sending out the recipe for it next week but in galette form (just one piece of dough, and a different dough, and half the size - the way i normally make it).
it has a cheddar, corn, garlic and thyme mixture on the bottom, and it’s then topped with roasted tomatoes. this version gets encased in inverted puff pastry (imagine puff pastry but it doesn’t get nearly as big, and instead of getting shards when you take a bite it’s just super tender little flakes that just melt.) i really just love the punchy sweet-tangy-savoriness and unctuous texture of the tomatoes, with the sweet and earthy corn that pops in your mouth, melty cheddar cheese, and the bright notes of thyme.
for plating this pie up i was inspired by a painting i saw at the prado museum the day théo proposed. it features a large flat double crusted pie, with a little cut out decoration on top (you can see it at the top of this section), so that’s what i’m going to recreate for the wedding - but will change the decor on top to more closely reference the painting. since my hands aren’t skilled enough to hand cut a design like that i’m using some mini cookie cutters that were bent into a shape that resembles the pie in the painting.
bouillabaisse fish pie
i wanted to do something fun and theatrical but also approachable for guests to eat. i originally wanted to do prawns, but was quite worried about them overcooking (overcooked prawns are the worst) - so i went with a fish bouillabaisse pie instead. it starts with a bouillabaisse that has been reduced and thickened, which gets tossed over steamed potatoes and cod. the filling is encased in a dough, decorated, and baked.
for this one i went with a rectangular mold, as that felt like the only other pie shape that was missing - a more classic pate en croute sort of shape, keeping the decor very simple to reference the pies at the top of the page.
I literally have no words at how brilliant, charming, fun and utterly mouth-watering these ideas and recipes are you are working on for your magical wedding meal. Not to mention creative and visually intoxicating…and sweetly romantic with all the references to the paintings you both were mesmerized by the very day of the proposal. If I were one of your dear friends and had the pleasure of attending this magnificent wedding…I would throw my arms around the bride not only in congratulations on the happy nuptials but for pouring so much love and passion into every detail of culinary feast and sharing it as the most loving gift of all to all her family and friends on her wedding day. Brava!!