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To top a casserole with pie dough, one could simply go out and buy refrigerated pie dough, and they'll do in a pinch. If you are a from- scratch cook like me, here's a recipe.

1 1/4 cups unbleached flour
7 tablespoons (1/2 stick plus 3 tablespoons) butter, chilled, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons ice water, as needed

1 pie crust for a 9-inch pie

1. To make dough in a food processor, fit work bowl with metal blade. Add flour and 1/8 teaspoon salt and pulse a few times to combine them. Add butter and pulse about 10 times, until mixture looks like coarse bread crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces of butter. Sprinkle ice water over the flour mixture, and pulse just until dough looks moistened. Do not process into a ball--if dough comes together when you pinch some between your thumb and forefinger, it is moist enough. If too dry, add 2 teaspoons additional water and pulse a few times. Gather up the dough and press into a thick disk.
   
   To make by hand, mix flour and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour until the mixture looks like coarse bread crumbs with a few pea-sized pieces of butter. Stirring with a fork, gradually stir in enough water until dough is evenly moistened and is beginning to clump together. Gather up dough and press into a thick disk.
   
   In either case, refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes or up to 1 day. If the dough is well chilled and hard, let it stand at room temperature for about 20 minutes to soften slightly without losing its chill.
2. Lightly flour a work surface. Unwrap dough and sprinkle top with flour. Roll out dough into a 10- to 11-inch round about 1/8-inch thick. The dough can be used immediately for frozen for future use.