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

Cauliflower in cheese sauce

When I was a kid, pretty much the only way to get me to eat vegetables was to bury them in some sort of high-fat dairy product. Even our salads had a mound of cheddar cheese on top, which I then covered in Marie's Creamy Italian dressing, which tasted like Ranch but was nearly as thick as mayonnaise. So it's no surprise that smothering cauliflower in cheese sauce was, and still is, one of my favorite ways to get my five a day.

This is a pretty simple recipe which goes very nicely with steak, and is so tasty that even kids will eat it.

Cauliflower in Cheese Sauce

1 cauliflower

1½ cups grated cheddar cheese

1 tablespoon butter

1 heaping tablespoon flour (about 1½ tablespoons)

1/4 cup milk (or more, depending on creamy you want your sauce)

Pinch of dry mustard (like Colman's)

about ½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

splash of ketchup (about 2 teaspoons)

Put about ½ inch of water into a large saucepan over high heat. Toss in ½ teaspoon of salt.  Turn heat to high.

 Cut the leaves off the cauliflower and scoop out the stalk.  Put this stuff into the saucepan.  When it boils, put on the lid and turn the heat down to a simmer. (I often skip this step). 

  

15 minutes before you want to serve dinner, put the cauliflower into the pan, put on the lid, and turn up the heat to medium so it boils a little faster.

 Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add flour and stir to make a nice creamy roux. Cook without browning for at least 1 minute.

 Test the cauliflower by puncturing it with a knife. When it is the softness you want, take off the heat and drain enough of the cauliflower water into the roux to make a thick sauce.  Whisk the sauce quickly over high heat until thickened. Add the milk gradually until the sauce is a nice smooth consistency.

 Turn the heat under the sauce to low. Add the cheese, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and ketchup to taste.

  

To serve, put the cauliflower in a bowl and pour the cheese sauce over the top.

Pecan Pie

My dear husband had his birthday last month, and he had one request: Pecan Pie. Partly, this was the pragmatist in him: the pecans were going to go bad, and he hates to waste anything. But also, the man just loves my pecan pie.

In truth, this is my sister Miriam's recipe. She is the one in the family who is famous for her pies. But I do my best. For one thing, I make my pie crust from scratch:

(Quick style note - please forgive the awkward font formatting. For some reason, when cutting and pasting from some Word documents, blogger doesn't let me change the font style. It is deeply annoying, but I haven't got the time to re-write the whole recipe just to make the fonts match.)

Basic Pie Crust

For a covered pie. Make a half-recipe if you are doing an uncovered pie, like this pecan pie recipe.

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour   

1 tsp. white sugar 

½ cup solid vegetable shortening

8 Tbs (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter

1 tsp. Salt 1/3 cup plus 1 tbs. cold water

1 to 2 tbs. cold water, if needed)

In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together the flour, sugar, and salt.

Break the shortening and the butter into large chunks then add the shortening and butter to the flour mixture.  Cut into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or by cutting in opposite directions with 2 knives, one held in each hand. 

Cut the pastry until some pea-size chunks remain in the mixture and the rest is reduced to the consistency of coarse crumbs. 

Drizzle the water over the mixture and work the mixture together with your fingers.  If needed add 1 to 2 tbsp. of water until the pastry forms a ball (do not overdo the water in order to have a flaky crust, but make sure you add enough so that you are able to handle the dough)

Split pastry into two equal balls and roll out on a floured surface. Fill with your favorite pie filling.



Milo was so excited about my pie, he wanted to take a picture with his own camera:

Pecan Pie

9 inch unbaked pie crust     
1/3 cup butter, melted 

1 cup light corn syrup 

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup dark brown sugar 

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 heaping cup pecan halves

Heat oven to 350(F.  In large bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, butter, salt and vanilla; mix well.  Pour filling into unbaked pie crust.  Sprinkle with pecan halves.  Bake at 350(F for 45 to 50 minutes or until center is set.  (Toothpick inserted in center will come out clean when pie is done.)  Cool before serving. 

Recipe contributed by Miriam; from a Dear Abby column

Brandied Carrots

In our family, we like to either totally nullify the nutritional value of our vegetables by adding plenty of dairy fat (for example, Continental Vegetables), or spice them up by adding a bunch of booze. And sometimes we do both (dad's recipe for creamed mushrooms with sherry is coming, just as soon as I can take a photo of it that doesn't look totally disgusting. Mushrooms are not very photogenic). This recipe falls in the middle category, and it is a wonderful way to kick up the flavor of plain old steamed carrots.

Brandied Carrots

1/4 cup water

4 cupes sliced carrots

juice of 1/2 lemon

brandy

salt

1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley

Bring the water to a boil. Add the carrots, then cover and turn the heat down to medium. Cook until the carrots are tender, about 5 minutes or so. Drain the carrots, then return the pan to the heat, and add the lemon juice, parsley, and a jigger or so of brandy. Toss together, letting a bit of the liquid evaporate. Add salt to taste and serve.

From "The Master in the Kitchen"

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Chocolate and zucchini? Together?

Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Just trust me on this one.

My dad is a talented gardener, and every summer our garden was overflowing with fresh fruits and vegetable to be eaten up and canned. Zucchini, in particular, seemed to do very well in the Seattle soil, and each year we would be inundated by huge, dark green, monsters of zucchini. For mom, it was a challenge to figure out what to do with it all. Then she discovered this recipe (and dad discovered the Continental Vegetable recipe), and voila! Problem solved.

This is a lovely, moist, but not-too-sweet loaf cake that is perfect for a tea-time snack. It's a big recipe, and makes three loaves - if you want just one loaf, divide the amounts by three (which is what I usually do). It's a fairly forgiving recipe, so if you don't get the coversions exactly right for the baking powder and soda, it won't make much difference.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

3 Eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup vegetable oil

1 tsp. Vanilla

2 cups brown sugar, packed

3 squares unsweetened chocolate

3 cups grated zucchini (about 3 store-bought zucchini, or one zucchini from Dad’s garden)

4 cups flour

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/2 tsp. cloves

Heat oven to 350 degree F. In a microwave or double boiler, melt the chocolate.

In a large bowl mix together the eggs, oil, vanilla and brown sugar.  Stir in the melted chocolate and then the zucchini.

Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl, and then add them to the zucchini mixture. Stir well.

Bake in 2 or 3 greased and floured loaf pans for 40 - 60 minutes, depending on loaf size.  To test whether the loaves are done, get a piece of spaghetti and stick it into the tallest part of each loaf (my mom's clever technique). If it comes out with wet batter still attached, cook for another 5 minutes then test again.

The cooked loaves freeze well. (This is very useful as gardens generally produce a huge amount of zucchini all at once.)

From: the Zucchini Cookbook, discovered by Mom

Sweet and Sour Pork

We ate a lot of Chinese food growing up. A LOT. Maybe it was a Pacific Northwest thing. According to my sister Joy, this was the first Chinese (OK, "Chinese") recipe my dad tried making at home. He moved on to more complex recipes and flavors, ones that did not involve pineapple juice, but this stayed a family favorite.

When I make this recipe, I lighten it up by skipping the batter, and just browning the pork in a non-stick skillet with about a teaspoon of cooking oil. I also add sliced onions.

Sweet & Sour Pork

1 pound boneless pork loin (or boneless chicken breast), cut into strips

8 ounce can pineapple chunks with liquid

1 green pepper

vegetable oil for frying

Batter:

½ cup flour

¼ cup cornstarch

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

¾ cups cold water

Sauce:

¾ cup water-pineapple juice mixture

2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons rice vinegar

2 tablespoons ketchup

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

Mix together the batter ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Add the pork to the batter.

Chop the green pepper into 1/2 -inch cubes (and any other veggies you might feel like adding).

Drain the can of pineapple into a measuring cup and add water to make ¾ cup.  Mix the sauce ingredients together in a small saucepan.

Put oil into a wok to a depth of about one inch and heat on medium-high. When the oil is hot put in as much chicken as will fit. Cook the chicken about 5 minutes, flip the pieces over and cook for 5 minutes more. Remove the chicken from the pan, drain on paper towels, and then put in a bowl in the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the rest of the chicken.

When you’re on your last batch of pork, put the sauce over high heat and recruit a volunteer to stir it constantly until it boils. When it boils, turn the heat down to low and add the green pepper and pineapple.

To serve, pour the sauce over the bowl of pork. Serve with plenty of white rice.

 

Recipe from the Whitworth Elementary School Cookbook

This one is for Paga

My grandfather, Harry, died in April, after a long illness. To my sisters and me, he was always just Paga. Paga was just about the most generous, big-hearted, loving man I ever met. If he didn't have a smile on his face, then he had a camera in front of it. I learned a lot from my grandfather - his love of music, enthusiasm for traveling, his fierce loyalty for his family. 


And as it turns out, Paga was also quite the adventurous cook. This is the one recipe that he contributed to our family cookbook many years. If you make it, please do let us know what you think.


Elephant Stew

1 elephant

Salt and Pepper

2 rabbits (optional)

Dice elephant into small pieces. This should take about two months. Add enough brown gravy to cover, and season. Cook over kerosene stove about four weeks at 465 degrees. This will serve 3800 people. If more are expected, 2 rabbits may be added, but only if necessary, because most people do not like to find hares in their stew.       

- Paga’s favorite recipe

Toad in the Hole

Tonight, we had Toad in the Hole. I know, weird name. Delicious dish. Toad in the Hole is basically Yorkshire puddings with sausages baked into them. Or, how I make it, one GIANT Yorkshire pudding with sausages baked into it.


What? You don't know what Yorkshire pudding is? My goodness, you have truly been missing out. Yorkshire pudding is sort of a savory popover, made of flour, eggs, milk, and water. The liquid in the water evaporates and causes the whole thing to puff up as it cooks, making it light and crispy. My dad is a Yorkshireman born and bred, and the traditional holiday meal in our house has always been Roast Beef with Yorkshire pudding. As a kid I could eat my weight in those things, smothered in gravy. Deeee-licious.


Nowadays, I haven't got any Yorkshire pudding tins, so when I'm in the mood for a fix, we usually make Toad in the Hole, served up with roasted potatoes, steamed veg, and a bit of beef gravy to drizzle over the top.

Toad in the Hole

Serves four to six

1 cup flour

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup milk

4 eggs

½ cup water

16 good breakfast sausages (I like to use chicken-apple sausages)

Some vegetable oil

Mix the flour and salt together in a mixing bowl. Add milk and mix until combined. Add eggs and mix again. Add water and mix again. Then turn the mixer on full blast and let it run for 2 minutes (According to Dad, the batter should be given “100 strokes by the arm of a Yorkshirewoman” but it’s easier to just use a mixer.)

Put the batter in the fridge for at least a half an hour.

Heat the oven to 400. Brown the sausages in a large saucepan. Put the batter back in the mixer and give it another 2 minutes at full throttle.

Pour a thin later of oil into each compartment of four Yorkshire Pudding tins (16 puddings total). If you don't have Yorkshire Pudding tins, use two heavy metal baking pans.

Put the pans into the hot oven for 5 minutes. Carefully lift them out and pour a little batter into each, about 3 to 4 tablespoons (if using pans, pour half the batter into each pan). Drop a sausage into each (or just scatter them at random if using pans).

Bake for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, use that saucepan to make a beef gravy.

Check out that gravity-defying Yorkshire pud! 

Continental Vegetables

This recipe is probably the single-most requested dish that our friends ask for when they have dinner at my dad's house. It's a great way to get kids to eat their veggies, too. all the chopping can be a bit time-consuming, so lately, I've begun making a really big pot, up to the point when the sour cream is mixed in, then I freeze in meal-size portions for cooking another day. Just defrost, top with bread-crumbs, and bake.



This stuff goes so fast I had to get in there quick to get a photo before it was all gone!



Continental Vegetables

2 cups Zucchini, sliced thinly     

1 Green Pepper, diced  

1 cup carrots, shredded

¼ cup sliced shallots (or 1 chopped green onion and 1 clove garlic)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil for frying

salt and pepper to taste

¾ cup sour cream or yogurt

½ cup grated parmesan cheese 

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

½ teaspoon thyme

2 tablespoons bread crumbs

2 tablespoons parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350o.  In large skillet, sauté vegetables in oil for 5 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Mix sour cream or yogurt with 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, parsley, and thyme.  Stir into vegetables and spoon into buttered casserole.  Sprinkle top with bread crumbs and  2 tablespoons parmesan cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Serves 4. 

From the Zucchini Cookbook, discovered by Dad.

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 

 



Chocolate Chip Cookies (!!!)

I think this is perhaps the most classic recipe in my family's cookbook, although I think we could easily have a good long debate over it at dinner some day - that is, if we ever all managed to be in the same place for dinner.

My mom was a nurturer. It was just built into her nature. And one of the ways she showed love and care to people was through baking. when we were growing up, and friends came over, my mom would chat with them for a little while, learn about the things going on in their lives, and then she would disappear off into the kitchen for twenty minutes, then come back out as if nothing had happened.

And then 10-20 minutes later, a magical scent would come wafting out of the kitchen, usually brownies or these chocoloate chip cookies.

I probably had this recipe memorized not long after I had grade school, I spent so many afternoons cooking them with my mom. When I feel the need to feel a little closer to my family, this is the recipe I pull out. I have my own technique, and I'm sure each of my sisters does as well. I am not jeopardizing future bake-off winnings by sharing my secrets, so instead I will just post it the way our mom made it.

(OK, I will share one tip - I mix everything by hand, I never use a blender. I find this turns out soft, dense cookies, rather than cake-like ones.)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 375F. In a small bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking soda. In a blender, mix shortening, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes until light and creamy. Mix in flour mixture on low speed until just combined.

Remove bowl from blender and stir to make sure there are no pockets of flour. If dough seems too sticky, add a little extra flour. Stir in chocolate chips. (Here's my mom's secret - use a butter knive so that the it doesn't get too stuck in the dough). Drop 1½ - inch balls of dough onto nonstick cookie sheets, at least 2” apart.



Bake cookies. For soft cookies, bake for about 9 minutes and remove cookies from the oven when there are just barely beginning to turn golden. For crunchy cookies, bake for about 12 minutes and remove cookies from the oven when they have turned golden. If you remember, switch the cookie sheets halfway through baking and they will cook better.



Makes about 45 cookies.

We're big fans of breakfast in this house. Every weekend morning you'll find us tucking into pancakes, waffles, or biscuits, or maybe bacon and omelets, and of course big pots of tea and coffee to wash it down. A few years ago I finally learned to make my mom's biscuit recipe, and now I make these almost every week. My mom, on the other hand, really only pulled out the biscuits on special occasions, so I never realized just how easy they are. The part of this recipe that takes the longest is waiting for the oven to get hot enough!

It's also a great use of all the buttermilk we always have lying around. My mom's original recipe called for Crisco and milk, but I have updated it with fresh butter and buttermilk, which makes a rich but fluffy biscuit perfect for slathering with butter or jam (or topping with gravy, as I am inclined to do on occasion.)



This recipe makes about 16 biscuits, so I usually do a half recipe. I have tried freezing the biscuit dough after it's been cut into rounds, but this seems to result in flat, dense biscuits, so I don't recommend it.

Buttermilk Biscuits

1/2 cup butter
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 to 3/4 cup lowfat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 475ºF. Mix together the flour, salt, and baking powder. With a fork or pastry blender (or your fingers) cut the butter into the flour. Work until you obtain pea-size bits. Stir in the buttermilk by degrees. Stop adding when dough just comes together.

Combine with your fingers just until the dry bits are incorporated, then press the dough into a 1/2 inch thick sheet. Cut into circles with a cookie cutter or small glass. Arrange side by side on a baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes at 475ºF, then lower the heat and bake another 7-8 minutes at 450ºF. Serve hot with lots of butter and jam.