Brian Phelan’s Rappie Pie


Ingredients

1 whole chicken
1 carrot, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
handful celery leaves
10 lbs potatoes
2 Tbsp butter
1 – 2 medium onions
4 to 8 cups extra chicken stock
Dried ground celery leaf +/- ground nasturtium seed pod (for salt and pepper)
Optional: sautéed garlic, bacon bits, other herbs

Directions

  1. Place chicken in a large pot and cover with water by one inch.
  2. Bring to the boil over high heat, skimming off scum as it rises.
  3. Once scum is no longer rising, add vegetables and reduce heat to medium low.
  4. Cook chicken for one hour, turning the bird over if necessary for even cooking.  Test for doneness by inserting a knife between the breast and the thigh. If the juices run clear it’s ready.
  5. Carefully remove chicken from the cooking liquid and allow to cool.
  6. When cool, remove meat from the bones and shred into bite-sized pieces.
  7. Put the bones back into the broth.
  8. Keep broth simmering on low heat. Heat extra stock to boiling, reduce heat and keep it simmering as well.
  9. Sauté 1-2 onions in some butter until translucent.
  10. Peel potatoes and juice them in a juicer, collecting the pulp in a large bowl, and measuring the liquid by-product periodically, keeping track of the amount. (Save the potato liquid, and the starch that collects at the bottom of the bowl.)
  11. For every 7 cups of liquid, you will need 10 cups of boiling stock. Bring stock to the boil and ladle over the potato pulp, stirring constantly, until all of the allotted stock is used. The potato mixture should look like a thick slurry.   Add the dried celery leaf and  sautéed onion (+/- optional herbs and spices).
  12. Preheat oven to 425°F. Have two large casseroles ready.
  13. Pour potato mixture half-way up the sides of the casserole, then scatter a thick layer of chicken pieces over top. Cover with another layer of potato mixture to within ½-inch of the top of the casserole.
  14. Bake for 20 minutes at 425F, then reduce heat and bake for another 2½ to 3 hours,  until a brown crust has formed and the Rappie’s surface is no longer jiggly.
Serve at the table with a side of sugar beet syrup and bread and butter pickles, pickled beets or cooked beets with butter.
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