Ah! Sunday dinners and family reunions!

Where would these be without chicken pie, that staple for the family and for covered dish gatherings? Many of today’s magazines show exciting recipes you will surely want to make, but for consistent goodness you can count on a chicken pie — especially today’s recipe.

Simplicity is the thing that makes this recipe so useful. It has only eight ingredients — two being the salt and pepper, and another the purchased pie crust.

It is from the late Bessie Smith Chamblee in a cookbook published by her church, Providence Baptist in Anderson County, several years ago. Providence is a relatively new church, last year celebrating its 10th anniversary, compared with many century-old churches in our state. Its pastor, Rev. Mike Kinard, has served the church for 10 years or so.

Rev. Kinard remembers “Miss Bessie” well; she was a sweet lady, he says, and hers was the first funeral he conducted after coming to Providence. She was also a doer-of-good-things and was on the committee that helped form the new church, which held its first service on the first Sunday in April 1994.

Many recipes suggest chicken pie additions such as hard-boiled eggs, celery or broccoli soup, creamed corn, sour cream, noodles, buttermilk, peas, mushrooms, chopped celery, and other vegetables. Some recipes suggest canned biscuits for the topping.

However, it would be hard to improve on Mrs. Chamblee’s recipe, one you will want to keep. Cook the chicken on Saturday, assemble the pie Sunday morning, put it in the oven after church, and you’ll have a new family favorite dish for … Sunday Dinner.

Chicken Pie

6 tablespoons butter or margarine
6 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1¾ cups chicken broth
⅔ cup milk
2 cups cut-up cooked chicken
2 pie crust pastries for 9-inch pan

Divide pastry, using about half of it to line baking dish. Melt butter in skillet. Add flour and seasoning; let bubble and add liquid, cooking until thickened. Add chicken. Use remaining pastry for strips on top of dish. Bake at 425 degrees for 25 minutes.