Rapure Pie Recipe

This is a traditional Acadian dish that most of you may be unfamiliar with. But if you do give this recipe a try, you will find yourself making rapure pie all the time. I make it quite often for large family gatherings. It is also great to make ahead of time because it freezes well.

Directions:

Yield: One 9″ x 12″ pan and two or three 6″ round pans

1. You can buy or make your own grated potatoes with the starch removed. If you are doing it yourself, grate fresh potato and then squeeze it in cheese cloth to remove the starch. Place the grated potatoes into a very large bowl.
2. Add the butter, onion, parsley, pepper and salt.
3. I made my own stock by placing an 8lb turkey in a pot with 30 cups of water, onion and celery. I let that cook for about 6 hours. Then I removed the turkey meat from the bones and set aside to use in the rapure pie. Be sure to strain your stock before you add it to the potatoes. You can use a commercial stock as well. Make sure it is heated well before you add it to your potato mixture.
4. Add 4 cups of the stock to the potato. Let it sit and absorb for a minute. Measure out 4 more cups and add that to the potatoes.
5. With a large whisk, start mixing the potatoes and stock. It will get hard to stir, but you want to make sure you mix it well. Otherwise, you could end up with lumps of potato in your rapure pie.
6. Continue adding stock 4 cups at a time and mixing after each addition. It should take somewhere between 20 and 24 cups to reach the desired consistency (it should be similar to the consistency of porridge). When you are getting close to 20 cups, gradually add the last amount to prevent adding too much stock.
7. Line a 9″x12″ lasagna pan with parchment paper.
8. Pour a layer of the potato mixture into the lasagna pan.
9. Add a layer of turkey meat (or whichever meat you prefer) by simply dropping the turkey on top of the potatoes in the lasagna pan.
10. Pour another layer of the rapure potato mixture on top of the turkey. Make sure you completely cover the turkey or it will dry out in the oven.
11. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F and cook the rapure pie for approximately 3 hours, until it is nice and crispy on top.
12. If you still have rapure mix left you can make smaller pies and freeze them for another day. Just take them out of the freezer when you are ready to eat them and cook from frozen.