Category: Poultry

Chicken,Fennel,Sun Dried Tomato Pot Pie with Buttermilk Biscuit Crust

Today is Day 2 of how I used my vegetable box.I decided to focus on fennel .I was stumped because I have only had fennel in salads. A Internet search pulled up the same types of recipes. I could have roasted it with and served it up with fish or chicken. Nah. I decided to use in a Chicken Pot Pie. Why Not? I had a really good chicken pot pie in the company cafeteria and wanted to do it my way. Rather than a short crust I decided to make a Buttermilk Biscuit crust( need to use that leftover buttermilk from the Daring Bakers Challenge). I figured Certain Someone may like this .Plus there would be leftovers as he and I towards the end of the week will be in opposite directions. While I’m sunning( working ) it up in sunny Florida he’ll need some good leftovers to pull out.I decided to use Martha Stewart’s Biscuit recipe for the buttermilk biscuit.The filling is my inspiration.It wasn’t to thick , all the better to sop up the sauce with your biscuit crust!
Coco’s Chicken,Fennel,Sun dried Tomato Pot Pie with Buttermilk Biscuit Crust
Filling
1 bulb of fennel sliced thin(remove tops).
3/4 cup of frozen peas
3 boneless chicken breasts cooked and cut into cubes( I cooked mine in ground sage, salt ,pepper, bay leaf and parsley.Save any liquid).
1 cup plain yogurt
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
9 sun dried tomatoes snipped into pieces
2 tablespoons of flour
2 tablespoons of butter
Preheat oven to 375 .Mix chicken , sliced fennel,peas, and sun dried tomatoes in dish you are baking in.In a pan melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Add flour. Mix like a roux until incorporated.Gradually add chicken broth while whisking. You should have a slightly thickened sauce. Add the yogurt and thoroughly mix.Pour over chicken and vegetables.Make Martha Stewart’s Buttermilk Biscuit ( note I reduced this by half). Roll out a round of dough to top dish.You can add cut outs with the leftover. Brush the tops with Buttermilk and bake for approx 25 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

 

Dont forget about Tamale Open!

Holy Mole

I haven’t been a good participant in the weekly challenges of
Chou over at Balance announced the final week 3 super food and it was Cocoa. Not necessarily meant to be used in a dessert. Check out all the nutrition facts on cocoa on her site, who would have guessed. No wonder people feel so good after having chocolate. I immediately thought of a mole sauce. I have never made mole but decided to do some research. None of my cookbooks had a recipe, so I improvised.And that’s the beauty of Mole, there are so many variations.I used a combination of chilies, spices,chicken broth,and cocoa powder . I read ground peanuts or almonds are also added but I passed on that.Hey its Coco’s Mole so I can do what I want.In shopping for my Chilies I noticed some Corn Husks, and decided to attempt some tamales too. A chicken poblano tamale drizzled with Coco’s Mole. Yummm. Certain Someone the other night asked what a tamale was when we were bowling. ‘The Tamale Man’ came into the place selling his wares from a cooler type device .Seems hes legend around Chicago at after hours spots. Me, I have never heard of him , but though it was a good business idea.

Just so you see I really made my own Tamales! This dough batter is Masa (tamale dough), a combo of shortening or lard,with Masa, baking powder,salt,and water. Seemed simple enough.
Here is my Chicken breast cooked down with some Mole, poblanos, and onions.A
And here is the star , the Mole. I cooked this for about a hour, but it could have simmered down even longer.
And here are my tamales steaming in my homemade contraption. I took a baking cooling rack and placed it a long roasting pan with water. I covered it too.
All in all a long labor that Certain Someone seemed to enjoy. He ate four. I explained how its not really a entree and felt bad after all that effort he didn’t have more to eat.But he liked it and the Mole of which he spooned more unto his tamales.

Coco’s Mole ( adjust spices to your taste)

3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon sugar
6 cups chicken broth
2 oz dried chilies( ancho, California chili pods,etc)
1 large onion
minced garlic
olive oil

Bring your dried chilies and broth to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer until pods soften, take pods and slice open to remove seeds. Reserve liquid, but strain to remove any excess seeds. Saute the sliced onion , cumin,and garlic in olive oil until soft. Using your blender, in batches pulse chilies ,reserved broth, and onions.Once all has been processed put in heavy sauce pan and simmer . Add your cocoa powder and sugar and stir constantly until incorporated. Simmer stirring occasionally for at least 1 hour. Be sure to taste to adjust seasonings to your taste.

Clean Eating

I fell upon this magazine called Clean Eating this week. I’m not one for diets and I find the weight has crept up on me over the years. Nesting with Certain Someone hasn’t helped. We love food, good food, and don’t necessarily want to sacrifice that.My current physical activity is just walking at any opportunity I can.I used to belong to a great gym which my bank account couldn’t sustain anymore.I admit half the time I went there was for its country club like atmosphere. But I did go to classes and while I felt it didn’t make much of a difference, I see that now without it , it did.Certain Someone leads a fast paced work life with most of his time spent flying all over the world. Needless to say his diet needs careful attention as well. We both need to do something and I love this magazine because it focuses on good healthy food that doesn’t necessarily mean tasteless sacrifice. So I plan to work some of these recipes into our diet. I already did a variation of one( just used some other ingredients(peppers,tarragon, shallots and brined the chicken) but followed the technique of baking in parchment. OK, I added a drizzle of olive oil, but much better than pan frying or adding a heavy sauce.Certain Someone ate it up with some brown rice.

Today I making these fabulous Chocolate Almond Meringues made with natural sugar,cocoa,and almond extract. 5 of these little bites comes in at just 77 calories. I had planned to bake some cookies, but will satisfy myself with these morsels. I’m not swearing off all good decadent food,just trying to be more aware and balance things out for us.

Chicken,Leek ,and Wild Rice Soup

This is not a pretty soup, but its a pleasing soup. I love wild rice, and what better to pair wild rice with than some chicken? I’ve had my share of great chicken and wild rice soups on buisness trips to Minnesota. I decided to play on my own and come up with my own version. The thing about soup is that you can follow a recipe, but sometimes the best ones are ad lib.

I essentially took five chicken drumsticks and roasted them with a few strips of cut of bacon. Something about bacon used in cooking that just imparts a wonderful flavor and aroma. I cleaned and sliced one leek and added it to the roasting pan.I used my enameled Le Creuset dutch oven so it can go from oven to burner. I roasted the chicken and leeks for approx 1 hour to get a nice brown carmelization. I then transferred to pot to the burner and deglazed my pan with Sherry.I added dried shitake mushrooms,that had been soaking for the past hour and sliced,water, spices( herbs de Provence,ground sage,salt,pepper,a dash of sugar,etc.).I let it simmer for about another hour, with periodic stirrings from Certain Someone for his proclaimed magic touch.Around the last half hour I added heavy cream mixed with cornstarch for thickening.It didn’t get as thick as I would have liked , but it was fine just the same.Certain Someone ate two bowls and was happy. I’m not a big soup person but he seems to like my soup concoctions. Now if they only looked as good as they tasted..

Sausage Making…WhenThe Going Gets Tough, The Tough Make Sausage

Lets just say I had a crap day at work. One that makes me shake my head in wonder at people,their schemes, and motives.Enough said about that. To relieve my stress in a healthy way I decided to get out my new Baby Kitchen Aid,and tackle making sausages. I had ordered some collagen casings a while back and had boneless chicken thighs defrosting. I was nervous using the food grinder attachment , stuffer tube , and casings. I took out some onion, sun dried tomato, herbs, and spices to add to my dark chicken meat. I figured the thigh would be a little fatty and juicy to make a good sausage without adding anything.I tossed everything into the grinder tray and let it rip.Pretty fun! The casings gave me a bit of a problem, but I figured it out. Air pockets were another problem. No amount of smoothing helped. I read afterwards to poke a hole in the casings afterwards. I tried to twist my links and they wouldn’t stay. This part I have to finesse. I should have tested a piece of the force meat in a skillet to test the flavors, but I didn’t. The meat started expanding out of the non tied off casings as I cooked it.I ended up with a highly spiced sausage , that may have been to strong for some tastes( hello garlic and onion!). I found the casings a little chewy, and perhaps would like to try natural casings next time.However I can throw my always throw it a batch of sauce.All in all I’m pretty pleased with my overly ambitious self, and I had a few stress relieving moments.Now I’m just waiting for Certain Someone to fly home and give his critique. This will not be the last of my sausage making.
Note: I used perhaps a quarter of my collagen casings for a 3 large ground chicken thighs.I made about 7 generous links. I ordered my 34mm collagen casings from here. They have all sorts of sausage making supplies.