On New Years day, my Pepere mentioned that he has not had Rappie Pie in a long, long time. I have never heard of it, and so the recipe search began and I made one today. The recipe is from Nova Scotia. I found a nice deal on a cut up chicken at the supermarket today and boiled the parts with cut up celery and onions. Once it was nearly cooked, I peeled and shredded about 10 Maine potatoes. These soaked for a bit and then I squeezed the water out of them putting them in the bottom of the baking dishes. Most recipes call for straining the potatoes through cheesecloth to almost dry consistency. I strained off the broth and set aside. After putting down the squeezed potato in the dishes, the chicken was added over that. Another layer of potato was added for the top. Some of the reserved broth was added back to the dish. A little butter on top with more salt and pepper. There was just a little sage added to the broth with a bay leaf for flavor. What surprised me is that there were no vegetables added to the actual pie, like a chicken pot pie. It baked for about 1 1/2 hours at 350. Overall it was a good try. It was surprisingly good. The potatoes had a rich chicken flavor from the broth. They tasted nothing like potatoes. There are many different variations to this recipe, some adding bacon and vegetables. There was only a little butter in this recipe, so it was not overly rich. It is a great, simple ingredient, rustic meal for a cold winters day. Things I would do differently: Use a cheesecloth to strain out the starch from the potatoes. The potatoes should have a dry consistency when strained. Measure what liquid was taken out of the potatoes and add the exact amount of broth in. Keep the diced carrots, celery and onion and add it back into the pie. Cook it until nice and brown to see if the potato consistency is different. Has anyone made this, and do you have any tips? I don't know if it is supposed to have more liquid in it. Some recipes call for running the potatoes through a juicer and then straining. I may try that next time. Fresh homemade baked bread would have been nice.
You are going to have to try that in the bake oven. It may give it a different flavor to the potatoes.
I ran short on time and as it was the first time making one, it took a litle bit longer to sort it out. But, yes I am sure it may taste better.
