Liz’s Holiday Favorite! A Bermuda Cassava Pie Recipe



Elizabeth
December 14th, 2020

As we continue to spread the Christmas cheer and get in the spirit, we wanted to share with our friends and family a delicious local Bermuda cassava pie recipe. A traditional Bermudian Christmas dish, this pie is less of a pie and more of a savory cake. It can be made vegetarian by excluding the chicken- still delicious and a very unique holiday treat. As Bermudian to the holidays as a Turkey is to Americans! We hope you enjoy!  

Ingredient List 
3 lbs Chicken
2 stalks celery
½ bunch of thyme
2 tbsp salt (for chicken only)
1 lb of butter
2 tbsp crisco
1 dozen eggs beaten
1 bag of cassava (additional water squeezed out)
2½ cups sugar
3 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp allspice
2 tsp salt
1 tsp lemon extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract

Instructions
Part I : Chicken 
Boil the chicken in a large pot together with celery, salt, & thyme until cooked thru. Remove from pot & allow to cool, then remove the skin and bones from the chicken and any access fat. Cut the chicken into bite size pieces. Reserve one cup of the broth from the pot and set aside. 

Part II: Pie 
Cream together butter and Crisco
Add sugar and then eggs and mix together well 
Add all spices, salt, lemon, vanilla and almond extract mix well 
Fold cassava into the mixture and mix thoroughly until all ingredients are combined 

In a well greased pan add half of the cassava mixture to the bottom of the pan Then add a layer of chicken (more or less to your liking), before adding the last layer of cassava pour the reserved chicken stock over the layer of chicken evenly. Use the remaining cassava to cover the chicken then smooth the cassava out using a fork or spatula 
Bake @ 300 degrees for 3 hours. Allow the pie to cool before cutting it