Potato Pie with a Filling of Your Choice
Nothing here is kneaded — the dough is mashed. Boiled potatoes go through the masher with butter and eggs, and flour joins only at the end. This is a cook-from-leftovers dish, and yesterday’s mash straight from the fridge actually works better than a fresh batch, because it is denser and drier.
Add the flour a spoonful at a time, stopping the moment the mass no longer sticks to your palms. Every extra spoonful bakes up rubbery, and potato dough has no gluten to keep it supple in the first place. If the mash seems wet, return the drained potatoes to the dry pan over low heat for a minute to steam off moisture; you will need less flour. The 125 g of butter, slightly more than one American stick, is what keeps the crust tender.
Use a filling that is already cooked and on the dry side. Raw meat or fish will not come up to temperature in the time the crust needs to color, and excess liquid soaks the bottom layer so the pie slumps when sliced. Fried cabbage, braised mushrooms, or rice with sautéed onion and chopped egg all get seasoned separately and go in cool.
Build the sides higher than looks necessary, since the potato base settles as it bakes. The spoonful of smetana served alongside — that is the thick, tangy Slavic sour cream, or use full-fat sour cream or crème fraîche — is not decoration but seasoning: it supplies the acidity potatoes lack.
Part of Ukrainian cuisine — 448 more recipes in the section.
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Ingredients
Instructions
Boil the potatoes in salted water and mash them into a puree.
Add the butter, beat in the eggs, and work in enough flour to make a soft dough. Divide it into two parts - a larger one and a smaller one.
Spread the larger piece over a baking sheet or skillet, forming raised sides.
Add your chosen filling: meat, fish, mushrooms, rice with onion and eggs, or fried cabbage.
Cover the pie with the remaining dough and bake until golden brown.
Serve with sour cream.
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