Pie Party GE Potluck & a Potato, Bacon & Gruyere Pie w/ Shallots, Creme Fraiche & Fresh Herbs

Potato, Bacon & Gruyere Pie1

Potato, Bacon & Gruyere Pie1

I recently got invited to the Annual Pie Party GE Potluck with a group of food professionals from NYC, NJ and PA, and in order to attend you had to be a food professional and of course, bring a unique and delicious pie. Tickets to this awesome event were a hot commodity and sold out as always, so thanks to Harvard Common Press for releasing an extra ticket last minute me! I knew everyone would probably bring an array of sweet, and gooey pies and tarts – enough to make you swoon and pass out from a sugar coma.

Kristen Hess The Artful Gourmet

I’m not really a huge sweets person so I decided to make a savory Potato, Bacon & Gruyere Pie with Shallots, Creme Fraiche & Fresh Herbs, which is really more like a tart or quiche, just to switch it up and bring something different to the party.

Sweet Pies

The 3 hour party had hundreds of gorgeous sweet and savory pies from food bloggers, writers, and local Chefs in the food industry, and was planned and hosted by Jackie Gordon aka The Diva That Ate New York and Ken Leung aka Hungry Rabbit at the gorgeous GE Monogram Design Center in NYC.

Pie Party GE

We had tons of fun meeting other foodies

Savory Pies

and sampling the goods,

Chef Tagere

watched a cooking demo by  Chef Tagere showing us how to make gorgeous handmade Empanadas,

Sweet Pies 2

and did lots and lots of eating

Bartender

and drinking and mingling with some of the best foodies on the East Coast!

Anolon

Our awesome sponsors of this amazing party were: OXO, Jarlsberg, Kerrygold, Dub Pies, Wusthof, Snapware, Woolwich Dairy and Anolon.

Wusthof

Plus we got some great swag bags full of goodies from our generous sponsors to take home with us to enjoy all the leftover pie for the next week.

Dub Pies

Pie pans from Anolon, gorgeous knives from Wusthof, measuring spoons and a strawberry huller from OXO, a take home container by Snapware, a gorgeous Aussie Beef Pie from Dub Pies, mini Jarlsberg cheese and lots of beautiful creamy butter from Kerrygold USA.

KerryGold USA

All hail to the pie makers!

Savory Pies 2

Spaghetti Pie

Now back to my pie. This is one of my favorite recipes ever. It has a delicious buttery crust with a savory filling of thinly sliced potatoes, crispy bacon, Gruyere cheese, sage, shallots and garlic, with a touch of cream and crème fraiche inside to make it extra creamy and give a nice sauce to envelop all those delicious potatoes. It’s then baked into a golden brown and topped with a dollop of crème fraiche, chopped Italian parsley, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper for a finishing touch. It’s kind of like a big cheesy potato casserole you’d make for Thanksgiving dinner except it’s a pie. And who doesn’t love a good homemade fresh pie right out of the oven? I advise making two, though, (just double the pie filling recipe below) because this one will get snatched up quicker than you can grab your fork and say “pie”.

Potato, Bacon & Gruyere Pie2

Potato, Bacon & Gruyere Pie w/ Shallots, Creme Fraiche & Fresh Herbs

Yield: 4-6

The pie has a delicious buttery crust with a handmade dough and a hearty filling of thinly sliced potatoes, crispy bacon, Gruyere cheese, sage, shallots and garlic, with a touch of cream and crème fraiche inside to make it extra creamy and give a nice sauce to envelop all those delicious potatoes. It’s then baked into a golden brown and topped with a dollop of crème fraiche, chopped Italian parsley, sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper for a finishing touch.

Ingredients

  • Pie Crust (For two 9-inch crusts):
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup cold unsalted butter; cut into ½ inch cubes
  • 6 tablespoons ice water
  • Potato Pie Filling (For one 9-inch Pie):
  • 6 slices of bacon or pancetta
  • 4 medium Russet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced into 1/16”
  • 2 shallots, peeled and minced
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1-2 tablespoons fresh sage leaves, minced
  • ¼ cup half and half
  • 2 tablespoons crème fraiche
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Sea salt
  • Freshly cracked black pepper
  • 4 tablespoons crème fraiche (for garnish)
  • 1-2 tablespoons fresh Italian parsley, chopped (for garnish)

Instructions

  1. For the dough, mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter and pulse to mix until a coarse meal forms. Gradually add the ice water in until moist clumps form in the dough. Gather the dough and form into a ball. Divide in half and flatten into disks. Wrap each dough disk in plastic and chill it for at least one to two hours before rolling it out.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
  3. Gently roll out the pie dough on a floured surface and place into a lightly greased nine-inch round pie dish. Trim and flute the edges, set aside.
  4. Cook the bacon slices in a large sauté pan over medium heat until crispy and browned. Drain on paper towels, crumble into small pieces and set aside.
  5. For the potato pie filling, peel and slice the potatoes thinly (about 1/16” rounds) with a mandolin or knife; chop shallots, garlic and sage leaves. Whisk two tablespoons of crème fraiche into the half and half in a small bowl.
  6. Toss the sliced potatoes with a little bit of olive oil, salt and pepper. Layer 1/3 of the potatoes in the dish in a circular overlapping pattern, then sprinkle with 1/3 of the shallots, garlic, sage, Gruyere cheese, half and half/crème fraiche mixture, and crumbled bacon. Repeat 2-3 more layers until all of the potato mixture and fillings are inside the pie shell. Top the pie with a little extra shredded Gruyere cheese and olive oil.
  7. Bake the pie for about 45 minutes until crust is golden brown and the cheese on top is melted and bubbly.
  8. Cool the pie on a baking rack for about 5 minutes and then top with a dollop or two of more crème fraiche, chopped parsley, sea salt and pepper for garnish.

Notes

You can also substitute pancetta or ham for the bacon, and mix in some Swiss or Emmenthaler cheese to the Gruyere if you want to make it extra cheesy and melty. Play around with the herbs too – throw in a little rosemary or thyme if you like. This recipe makes two 9-inch piecrusts, so if you want to make two pies, just double the pie filling recipe.

https://www.theartfulgourmet.com/2014/05/pie-party-mania-potato-bacon-gruyere-pie/

Photo Gallery from the Event (just click the photos to enlarge and see slideshow)

Sponsors

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