Chicken pot pie with a sweet potato crust

I love this recipe. My dad first came across it as a use for leftover Thanksgiving turkey (using up the leftover sweet potato casserole and leftover veggies as well), but I usually use leftover roast chicken. I don't make it that often because it always seems a bit fussy to have to make both the filling AND the crust, but the last time I cooked it, I realized it was really actually pretty simple. I've typically just boiled and mashed the sweet potatoes, but I think roasting them might make for a fluffier crust - that takes some planning though.

You can add other vegetables as well - it's a great use for leftovers. Potatoes, green beans, or asparagus would all be nice additions.

Chicken Pot Pie with Sweet Potato Crust

Serves 6

3 cups chopped cooked chicken or turkey

2 tsp olive oil

1 cup chopped carrots

12 small whole white onionscut in half, or 1 large onion, chopped

½ cup chopped celery

1 tsp dried thyme

1 cup cooked peas (or frozen peas)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley

6 tablespoons butter

1 cup plus 6 tablespoons flour

1 cup cream or half-and-half

2 cups chicken broth

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes - let cool first

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 egg, well beaten

Preheat oven to 350. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the carrots, onion, and celery and saute until softened, a few minutes. Add the thyme and cook for one minute more.

Put the chicken, carrots, onions, celery, peas and parsley into a 2 ½ quart baking dish.

Melt butter in a medium sized saucepan. Stir in the 6 tablespoons of flour and stir over medium heat for one minute. Whisk in cream and chicken broth slowly. Season with ½ teaspoon salt and the pepper. Continue to stir until the sauce boils and thickens. Pour over the chicken and vegetables and stir gently to combine.

In a medium sized bowl mix 1 cup flour, baking power and ¼ teaspoon salt. Use a fork to mix in the sweet potatoes, oil, and egg. Roll or press out dough on a lightly floured board to about ¼ inch thickness.

Cover baking dish with dough and pinch edges all around. Make a small slit in the center. Bake for 35 minutes, until crust is golden brown.

Recipe from dad, and tweaked by Gwyneth

Chicken and Dumplings

 

 

Like many people, I'm a fan of the Smitten Kitchen blog, and a number of the most popular recipes at my house have been taken  or adapted from recipes I found on the site. This is one of the recipes I make the most often, as it takes advantage of ingredients I almost always have on hand, it uses inexpensive chicken thighs, and it just tastes yummy. I modified the recipe from the original a bit, replacing leeks with celery, since I usually don't have leeks lying around, omitting a bit of sherry (same reason) and substituting dried herbs for the fresh. I've never made this recipe with tarragon, but it sounds like a great idea, so I left that ingredient in. I did, once, toss in a few fennel seeds instead and it gave the stew a wonderful Eastern European vibe.

 

Chicken and Dumplings

 

Serves 4

 

Chicken

6-8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
Table salt and ground black pepper
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 large onion, minced
1-2 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
2 bay leaves
1 cup frozen green peas
1 tablespoons dried tarragon leaves (optional) 

Dumplings
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons reserved chicken fat (or unsalted butter)


Heat the oil in a large casserole over medium-high heat. Brown the chicken thighs, about 5-6 minutes per side, then take them out and set aside. Drain off all but about 1 tablespoon of the remaining oil, and save it for the dumplings. Return the pan to the heat, and add the butter. Lower the temperature to medium, and saute the onion and celery until translucent. Season with salt and pepper.

Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Whisk in the chicken broth and bring the mixture up to a simmer. While you wait, remove the skin from the chicken thighs (it should come off pretty easily once it's been cooked, but be warned, it is a greasy, messy job.) Put the chicken thighs and herbs into the pot, and then turn down the heat to medium-low. Cover the pot and let the stew simmer for 45 minutes to an hour, until the chicken is falling off the bone.

Remove the chicken pieces and let cool. Turn the heat off the stew. This is a recipe I usually make on the weekends, so I cook everything up to this point earlier in the day, then let it rest a bit until I'm ready to finish everything off.

Once the chicken has cooled enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones. Skim off any fat from the top of the stew and discard. Add the chicken, peas, and milk to the stew and bring to a simmer.

Make the dumplings: Warm up the milk and chicken fat togther in a saucepan or the microwave. In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the milk mixture until the dough comes together. It will be very sticky still. Using two spoons, scrape balls of the dumpling batter into the stew. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then serve.

Recipe adapted from the Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2007/12/chicken-and-dumplings/

Grilled Chicken with Onion Marinade

This is an easy marinade for chicken that we've been using for backyard barbecues in Los Angeles. It came from a cookbook by Madhur Jaffrey and is an Indian dish called Murgh Lajavaab. But we all just call it "delicious".

Marinade Ingredients:

1 medium onion, cut into large chunks

2 garlic cloves

1-inch cube fresh ginger

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1½ teaspoons coriander

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

Pinch of freshly ground pepper

Combine all marinade ingredients in a blender or food processor and puree. It will look something like this (but there will be a lot more of it):

 

Cut 3-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts into 1" chunks and add them to the marinade. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. Put the chicken on skewers, allowing plenty of marinade to stick to the chicken. Grill, about 5-6 minutes per side, or until cooked through.

Bon Bon Chicken

Over the last few years, we have become a Sunday Roast kind of family. My father is English, so you would think that it would just be in the blood, but no, up until recently I couldn't cook a roast to save my life. Enter my digital meat thermometer as a wedding present, and life changed. This is one of the recipes I like to make with leftover chicken. It's a family classic from my childhood, and as a kid, we often made Bon Bon Turkey the day after Thanksgiving.

Bon Bon Chicken

1¼ pounds skinned, boned chicken or leftover cooked chicken, shredded

1 cucumber, peeled, thinly sliced

½ teaspoon salt

2 oz bean noodles or other type of noodles (sometimes I use spaghetti, sometimes rice noodles)

3 cups hot water

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon Szechwan pepper

½ teaspoon minced garlic

2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger root

Seasoning sauce:

2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon Chili Oil

4 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil

4 1/2 teaspoons sesame paste or peanut butter

 

Bring about 4 cups of water to a boil in large saucepan; reduce heat to medium. Add chicken.  Cover and simmer 20 minutes.  Remove chicken and let cool, reserving broth in saucepan. 

Sprinkle cucumber slices with salt and let stand about 15 minutes.  Squeeze slices to remove water.  Arrange on a platter. 

If using bean noodles or rice noodles, soak noodles in 3 cups hot water for 5 minutes to soften.  Bring chicken broth to a boil. Dip noodles in boiling broth 3 to 5 seconds; drain well and arrange on top of cucumbers. If using pasta, boil pasta according to instructions.

Remove bones from chicken and chop into 2" shreds.  Place chicken shreds on top of noodles.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic, and ginger root. 

Combine ingredients for seasoning sauce in a small bowl; mix well.  Pour sauce over chicken.  Serve at room temperature.  Toss at the table just before serving.

Recipe from:  Chinese Cookery, a very old cookbook of my father's 

 



Chicken Piccata

Chicken Piccata is a simple, quick meal, great for busy weeknights. When I was growing up, my dad's go-to dish when he had very little time to prepare dinner was usually something along these lines - he sauteed chicken breast in a skillet, deglazed the pan with wine or chicken broth, then added seasonings and sometimes cream to vary the flavor. I often follow the same plan, adding and subtracting ingredients based on what's in the fridge. For example, this time I sauteed a bit of onions before deglaxing the pan, for a chunkier sauce.

I also find it works well as a potluck dish for a luncheon - I just make sure there is plenty of sauce, and then serve on top of some pasta with butter and fresh herbs.

½ cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to ¼ inch thickness
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 tablespoons white wine (can substitute chicken broth)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons capers (optional)
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Combine four, salt and pepper and use to coat the chicken breasts.

Melt butter and oil in a large frying pan and cook the chicken breasts over medium heat for about 5 minutes per side, until cooked through. Remove and keep warm.

Stir wine into pan juices. Add lemon juice and bring to a boil. Return chicken to pan and cook for about 3 minutes, until sauce thickens slightly. Garnish with capers and parsley.