Have you ever woken up and found yourself in the mood for kielbasa? No? Well, me either, so color me surprised when it happened to me today. But I also knew that I needed to make something I could put on the blog, and kielbasa on its own just isn’t complicated enough. What would my recipe say? Warm kielbasa, the end?
Wouldn’t exactly make people race to follow my cooking blog.
So I asked my Facebook fans what they were having for dinner, and someone used that magical phrase, “comfort food.” Which instantly made me think of mashed potatoes and chicken pot pies. Could I come up with a recipe for Kielbasa Pot Pie, but with a mashed potato crust?
I Googled “potato pie crust” and found this terrific looking recipe for Fiesta Potato Pie from Cake, Batter, and Bowl. It looks excellent, but I thought the kielbasa might make the mashed potatoes too soggy, and I thought shredded potatoes would give a more interesting texture. So then I found this recipe from, of all places, Breastfeeding Moms Unite: Vegetable Pie with Grated Potato Crust
With the crust settled, I moved onto the filling. I thought about using canned cream of mushroom soup as the liquid in the Kielbasa Potato Pie, but I was afraid it would be too salty. Kielbasa (also known as polish sausage) is very salty on its own, so I used a simple white sauce instead, with no added salt. If you’re in a rush, try low sodium cream of mushroom soup and be sure to let me know how it turns out.
Kielbasa Potato Pie
Crust:2 baking potatoes, grated
¼ C onion, grated
¼ t ground pepper
2 eggs
1T melted butter
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grate the potatoes and squeeze out as much moisture as possible with paper towels. Put the grated potato in a bowl with the onion and pepper. Toss with a fork until well mixed. Crack open the eggs on top of the potatoes, mix the eggs with the fork, and then toss it all together.
Spray a deep pan with nonstick spray. Put the potato mixture in the pan and press down. Bake at 400 for 15 minutes, then brush with melted butter and bake 5 more minutes.
Filling:
1 C fresh mushrooms, minced
3 T flour
1 ½ C milk
2 carrots, peeled and cut into ¼-inch chunks
½ C frozen peas
1 can of whole kernel corn, or 1 C of frozen corn
1 lb Polska Kielbasa (polish sausage), sliced into ¼-inch rounds.
½ C sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
Melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the mushrooms and sauté until browned, about 7 minutes. Stir in the flour one tablespoon at a time, then add milk a bit at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in the carrots, peas, and corn and simmer for 10 minutes.
When the potato crust is done, remove it from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Place half of the kielbasa slices on the crust in concentric circles. Top with half of the vegetable mixture. Add the rest of the kielbasa, then the rest of the vegetables. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
Top with cheese and broil until the cheese is browned, 2-4 minutes. Check every minute to be sure the cheese doesn’t burn.
That kind of sounds good! My mom makes what she calls keilbasa hash. It's so good! You dice potatoes and keilbasa into little diced pieces, stir them up with a little salt & pepper and fry it in a pan. You'll have to cover it with a lid on low to cook the potatoes through, but keep it stirred and the parts that touch the pan will get nice and browned to adda little crunch. It is so good paired with scrambled eggs!
ReplyDeleteThat sounds delicious, Rosie! I'll give it a try.
ReplyDeleteI married Polish and they don't eat Kielbasa in any other way than the way the family has always eaten it - as a sandwich. So bizarre. The inlaws eat sliced kielbasa on rye with mustard. I just eat it as a side of meat because I don't care for the rye or mustard, but I never claimed to be Polish. In the past, we've eaten the kielbasa with pierogies as appetizers.
ReplyDeleteThis does look yummy though. I bet the boy would like it with chicken or leftover turkey. Seems like a good leftovers meal with the veggies, mashed potatoes and turkey after Thanksgiving. I'm so not an intuitive cook though.
Oooh, good idea! I'll have to remember that after Thanksgiving. I was thinking it would be a great meal using leftovers from Easter, too, April. Ham would have the same saltiness as the sausage.
ReplyDelete