Chicken and Spinach Pie

By btaylor

From Jean

Ingredients

• Filling
• 2 10-oz. pkgs of frozen chopped spinach
• 2 large cloves garlic minced or pressed
• 1/4 c raisins
• 1/4 c pine nuts
• 1/4 lb. thinly sliced prosciutto ham
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T unsalted butter
• 3 c shredded cooked chicken
• 2 eggs lightly beaten
• 1 c heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• Cornmeal Pastry (Makes enough pastry for 1 double-crust pie)
• 1 2/3 c all-purpose flour
• 1/4 c stone-ground yellow or white cornmeal
• 1 t salt
• 3/4 c (1 1/2 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, in 1/2 in slices
• 1 egg beaten
• 2 t white vinegar
• 2-3 T ice water

Preparation

Step 1

Filling

Cook the spinach according to package directions. Drain and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Mix the spinach with the garlic, raisins, pine nuts and prosciutto.

Heat the oil and butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the spinach mixture. Cook, stirring, until the garlic and nuts begin to turn color, about 5 minutes. Turn the mixture into a bowl. Add to the bowl the chicken, eggs, cream and salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the oven to 350*F

Pastry

Stir together the flour, cornmeal, and salt. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. With a fork, stir the egg, vinegar, and 1 TBSP of the ice water together. Add the liquid to the flour mixture, stirring with a fork just until the pastry is moist enough to hold together. Add more ice water, if necessary, a tablespoon at a time. Knead in the bowl to 2 or 3 strokes, just until the dough makes a smooth ball.
Wrap the pastry and chill for 30 minutes or until ready to use.

Roll out 2/3 of the pastry and fit it into a 9 inch pie pan. Turn the filling into the pastry. Roll out the remaining pastry to fit the top of the pan. Moisten the edges of the pastry in the pan. Place the top pastry over the pie and press together the edges to seal. Make several slashes on the top of the pie. Bake until the pastry is golden brown, and the center of the pastry is set, 45 to 55 minutes.