A Rollicking Good Holiday Chicken

T

he holidays are a time for ornate meals. While we generally like to offer less complicated recipes here, we couldn’t resist offering this traditional Russian pie for your holiday enjoyment. In reality, this recipe is much less complex than it looks at first glance; if you can roll out a bit of dough and make pancakes, you won’t have the least bit of trouble with kurnik.

Kurnik has long been a “must” dish at traditional Russian wedding parties, and this version—zalikhvatsky (literally, “rollicking”)—has a festive, almost excessive quality. Its thin outer layer of dough conceals a tasty, layered filling of chicken, eggs, onions, mushrooms, and rice, separated by light blinchiki. Served hot, it is a real treat. 

Instructions

First, make the pie dough: Mix together the flour, salt, and sugar. Cut in the butter. Beat the egg lightly, then mix it with the sour cream and milk. Gently stir this mixture into the flour; do not overmix. Form into a ball and set aside.

For the blinchiki: Mix together the flour, sugar, and salt. Beat the egg lightly, then mix it with the milk and melted butter.  Stir this liquid into the flour mixture to make a thin batter. Heat a greased griddle. Pour 2 tablespoons of the batter onto the hot surface, spreading it with the back of a spoon to make a thin pancake 5-6 inches in diameter. Cook quickly until done (the blinchiki will not brown). Repeat until all of the batter is used. Set the blinchiki aside.

Make the white sauce. Melt the butter, then add the flour and cook for a minute, stirring. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a few minutes until thickened. Remove from the heat and cool.

Next, prepare the fillings:

First filling: Mix together the rice, the hard-boiled eggs, melted butter, minced parsley and dill. Set aside.

Second filling: Melt the butter in a frying pan.  Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, until softened. Stir in the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, for 8-10 minutes.  Season with salt. Set aside to cool. 

Third filling: In a small skillet saute the chicken in the oil for about 8 minutes, until cooked through. Season with salt, then set aside to cool.

Fourth filling: Place the giblets in a medium sauce-pan.  Add the salt and spices. Cover with cold water and simmer until tender, about 30 minutes. Cool, then chop finely. 

Stir 1/4 of the white sauce into each of the fillings to moisten them.

Preheat the oven to 375o F.

To assemble the pie:  Roll out the pie dough 1/4-inch thick into a circle about 14 inches in diameter. 

Place the dough in the bottom of a 10-inch deep-dish pie plate, so that the extra dough hangs over the sides. Place a layer of blinchiki on top of the crust. On top of the blinchiki spread half of the rice (the first filling). Top with a second layer of blinchiki, followed by all of the mushrooms (the second filling). Cover with another layer of blinchiki, then top with the cooked chicken (the third filling). Add a fourth layer of blinchiki, followed by the giblets (the fourth filling). Cover the giblets with yet another layer of blinchiki, then top them with the rest of the rice and a final layer of blinchiki. Fold in the overhanging dough to completely cover the top layer of blinchiki. Crimp the edges to seal well.

Generously grease a 10-inch ovenproof skillet with vegetable oil, then invert it over the pie plate. Flip the pie plate and skillet so that the skillet is on the bottom, with the kurnik in the skillet, crust side up. Remove the pie plate. 

Decorate the top of the pie with leftover bits of dough. 

Lightly beat the egg with the milk. With a pastry brush, coat the entire surface of the pie. 

Bake the kurnik at 375o F for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until nicely browned.

Serves 6 to 8.

Recipe courtesy Petrov Vodkin Restaurant, Moscow

Kurnik Zalikhvatsky

Ingredients

Pie dough

21⁄2 cups flour

1⁄2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. sugar 

1 T. butter

1 egg

2 T. sour cream

1⁄4 cup milk

Blinchiki

1 cup flour

1 tsp. sugar

Pinch of salt

1 egg

11⁄4 cups milk

2 T. melted butter

White sauce

2 T. butter

2 T. flour 

2 cups milk

First filling

1 cup cooked rice

2 eggs, hard boiled, thinly sliced

1 T. melted butter

1 T. minced parsley

1 T. minced dill

Second filling

2 T. butter 

2⁄3 lb. finely chopped mushrooms

1/2 cup minced onion

1/4 tsp. salt 

Third filling

2 T. vegetable oil

1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breast, finely chopped 

1⁄4 tsp. salt

Fourth filling

3⁄4 lb. chicken giblets

1⁄2 tsp. salt

4 whole black peppercorns

1 bay leaf

1 whole egg

1 tsp. milk