Unique Chicken Pot Pie

  » By Keith Prickett

December 3rd, 2007 - Posted in Chicken, Dinner | Leave a comment (0)

It’s been a while since I have written here, but I do have a delicious recipe to share! Besides that, my birthday was the other day and I got some really cool gifts from my wife that relate to my cooking.

First, she got me a book I’ve been raving about on here: “Nightly Specials“ I had previously only checked it out from the library. I hope to cook up some more recipes and share from it. The chicken pot pie recipe below comes from this book.

Second, and -I think -a lot cooler (but equally as special), is a trip to the Oregon Culinary Institute for a hands-on cooking lesson! I guess she’s taken notice that I like cooking ;-). This should be a pretty fun time for me. Until then, I’ll just have to keep trying new recipes and posting them here. When I go, I’ll be sure to share some of what I learned with you and, naturally, with my wife! I can’t wait!!!!

Now, back to the pot pie. It’s not a pot pie in the traditional sense, the crust is more like a thin, buttery, very soft biscuit that you place on top of a rich chicken sauce/broth/filling. The filling is like the most delicious creamy chicken soup you’ve ever tasted. My wife wants me to get a “Yum” meter on my blog — and this one gets the highest ranking! Here’s what I did (warning, this recipe takes a long time to prepare if you do it all at once. Consider making chicken broth a day ahead of time.):

Ingredients:

• 2 & 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• salt + pepper
• 3/4 cup buttermilk
• 1 & 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 8 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
• One 3 (or s0) pound chicken
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns
• 2 teaspoons dried rosemary and thyme
• 1 large onion quartered
• 5 large carrots, diced
• 4 celery stalks, diced
• 1/2 medium shallot, minced
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh tarragon (this adds incredible flavor!)

Directions:

1. Make the pot pie tops: combine flour, sugar, baking powder and pinch of salt into mixing bowl and blend
2. Add buttermilk and 1/4 cup of cream and mix until combined.
3. Chop the butter into tiny little pieces and add it to the batter leaving it mealy.
4. Flour a surface and pour the dough onto the surface.
5. Flatten gently with a rolling pin and cut into six rounds 3-inch diameter x 1 inch thick.
6. Place them on a cookie sheet and let rest for 20 minutes in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 375.
7. Bake them for 20 to 25 minutes until they are nicely browned

1. Make the chicken and broth: wash the chicken under cold water. Tie the bay leaves, peppercorns, rosemary and thyme together in a piece of cheesecloth.
2. Put the chicken into a pot large enough to hold it.
3. Cover it with cold water and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.
5. Add the cheesecloth of seasonings (called a “bouquet garni”), pinch of salt, onion, half the carrots, half of the celery.
6. Bring back to simmer and cook uncooked for 45 minutes.
7. When the chicken is done, carefully remove it from the pan and place it in a ice-water filled large pan or bowl to rapidly cool.
8. Strain the broth into another bowl (discard the solids — or save for chicken noodle soup — that’s what I do!)
9. Back to the chicken, use a very clean surface and — using your hands — remove all the good meat from the bones and set aside. Discard the bones and not-so-good stuff.

1. Make the sauce: Now, in a pot, add 2 cups of the chicken broth and bring to a boil.
2. Add the remaining carrots and celery and simmer for 10 minutes.
3. In, alas, one more pan heat some butter up over medium heat.
4. Add the shallots and saute them — seasoning with salt and pepper.
5. To the pot, add 1 cup of cream then the shallots and butter and simmer again for 5 minutes.
6. Add 1/2 or more of the chicken meat to your taste/texture and cook for another 10 minutes or so.
7. Finally, add the tarragon and transfer to serving bowls.
8. Place hot rounds on top of the bowls and serve to hungry mouths!!

Wow! That’s a lot, even to write. I have to say. This delicious meal takes a long time to cook, but it is well worth the effort. Like I said before, make the chicken broth portion a day ahead of time and it’ll go quick.

I hope you enjoy it!

Salt-Free Homemade Chicken Broth

  » By Keith Prickett

October 20th, 2007 - Posted in Chicken, Dinner | Leave/read a comment (2)

As you may have noticed I don’t use salt that much. I like to use unsalted butter, and I rarely put salt in anything I bake. I found that it is not necessary to add salt in order to have a delicious flavor. When I went on a salt-free kick way back when, I realized that chicken bouillon and store-bought chicken broths have a LOT of sodium (along with pretty much every thing else you buy at the grocery store). So I decided that I would try to make my own; This was also after wondering what I would do with the chicken carcass I had just cut-up or bbq’d.

This is a great way to use a whole chicken after you take what you want from it. I found that a whole chicken can make a whole weeks (depending on your family size) worth of meals if you use the whole thing (as opposed to just using the meat: breasts, thighs, and legs). I actually used this broth in a recipe I’ll share soon! Here is my very simple recipe (which you can extend to use any flavors you want):

Ingredients:

• A whole chicken (cooked=brown chicken broth, uncooked=white chicken broth) with breasts and other meaty-parts removed based on preference
• 1 Tbsp ground pepper or 15 whole peppercorns
• Enough water to fill your pan and cover the whole chicken.
• 1 Medium Onion
• Optional: 3-4 Celery, 3-4 Carrots cubed.
• If you’re not weird like me, 1/2 tsp salt.

That’s it, it’s a really basic list of ingredients.

To prepare:

1. Cut the chicken into manageable pieces and so that it fits into your pan. I use a big soup pan. It probably held about 8-cups of water or more.
2. Put the chicken into the pan.
3. Fill the pan with water.
4. Turn the oven on high until the water boils, then reduce to medium or high enough to let the stock simmer.
5. Next, use another pan to fry the onion, which you have chopped into eighths.
6. When they are starting to turn slightly brown throw them in the pot with the chicken.
7. Add the pepper (and salt if you must).
8. Optional: Add the carrots and celery
9. Simmer and stir occasionally for 3-4 hours. The broth will be reduced to about half of the original volume, so keep that in mind for your proportions.
10. When you’re done simmering you can use a strainer or a cheese-cloth like device to strain the broth and use as desired.

After I strained it I thought for a while about what to do with the bits of chicken pieces, carrots, and celery. I decided to remove all the bones and non-meat chicken pieces and then turn the rest into a soup. You can do what you like with it, have fun!
I hope you enjoy it!