Chicken Pot Pie

While today dawned sunny and bright, yesterday was anything but:

It was dreary, rainy, and the kind of day where you find yourself casting around for something, anything to do indoors to keep your mind off the fact that it was so yucky outside.

In other words, it was the perfect day to cook; especially something like comfort food. 

And what could be better than some chicken pot pie? I dug out this recipe from Anne Burrell and set to work. Now I realize I could have searched out something that could be made in the slow cooker, but quite frankly, I needed some quality bonding time with my stove. This dish was the perfect solution.

The first thing that needed to be done was to make the pastry for the pot pies.

First I cut up a stick of butter and 8 ounces of cream cheese.

That got added to the 1 1/2 cups of flour and a pinch of salt standing by in the food processor.

Everything got pulsed together until the dough started coming together. I added a couple of tablespoons of cold water and one egg yolk, and pulsed some more.

The dough got turned out on some flour, was kneaded briefly and formed into a ball.

I covered it with plastic wrap and popped it into the fridge until I was ready to use it later in the day.

Next it was time to work on the pot pie filling. The recipe calls for chicken legs and thighs, but I used only thighs because...well, I could, and I think they taste better than legs. But hey, use whatever parts of the chicken that float your boat.

  
Then it was on to prepping the veggies.

Carrots, onions, and celery all got a good chop, and some garlic was minced too.

All but the garlic was tossed into a large pot, seasoned with some salt, and left to saute over medium heat for about 7 minutes.

The house was starting to smell wonderful. 

Once the veggies had softened, I added the garlic and let that do its thing for a couple of minutes. Then I nestled the thighs on top and poured some chicken stock, which I had made the day before, over everything.

The stock was brought up to a boil, then reduced to a simmer and was left to bubble gently away for 30 minutes.

At this point in Anne's recipe, it calls to roast off some butternut squash. However, I gave this step a pass because (a) we're not particularly fond of butternut squash, and (b) there wasn't any at the market even if we did like it. That being said, I have roasted off potatoes to add when making this dish before and it adds a nice component. But this time, I just skipped this element altogether.

Anyway, back to the chicken that had been simmering away. Now that it was done, I removed the chicken and veggies to separate bowls and set the stock aside.

When the chicken was cool enough to handle, I took the meat off the bones and added it into the veggie mixture. Now at this point, you're supposed to add some chopped haricots verts. And as lovely as those might be, I went with their pedestrian cousin, the regular old green bean.

Time now to make the gravy. I love gravy of just about any sort, but this one is one of my favorites.

Step One: make a roux.

After whisking together 4 tablespoons of melted butter and 4 tablespoons of flour, it was time for Step Two -- adding the reserved stock. This got ladled in a bit at a time, until everything was incorporated and smooth.

The gravy was brought up to a boil, then reduced to a simmer, and left to bubble away for about 20 minutes. You want to be sure to stir it on a regular basis, otherwise an icky film will develop on the top.

With the gravy done, I added the chicken/veggie mix into it and let it all warm together over low heat.

We're into the final stretch!

While the gravy was simmering away, I had removed the pastry dough from the fridge to let it come to room temperature.

As I was only going to be making two pot pies for this go round, I cut the dough in half and put the portion I didn't need back in the fridge. I'll use it later in the week when we have leftovers.

I rolled the dough out on a floured surface...

...and cut out two lids for the ramekins I was using for the filling. The edges of the ramekins got brushed with an egg wash, then the lids got put on top, some vents were made, and the lids were brushed with more of the egg wash.

The pot pies were popped into a pre-heated 375 degree oven and left to bake for about 30 minutes.

As far as I'm concerned, this is a nice warm hug in a bowl and the perfect thing to chase away the blues of a bunch of rainy days. As soon as you dip your fork or spoon into the crust, it flakes oh-so-nicely and bits get worked into the chicken and gravy. And the filling? Oh my. It's sooooo good. The dark meat of the thighs adds an element of richness to the gravy that makes you want to gobble it all up. Actually, the filling would stand fine all on its own as a stew, if you aren't inclined to make the pastry.

So the next time a batch of yucky weather comes your way, this might be something to try. In the meantime, we're back to having the kind of weather we love here in Belize -- blue skies, a great breeze, and lots of sun. Now if we could only do something about those pesky mosquitoes...

Chicken Curry

Chicken has always been a big favorite of ours, even before we moved to Belize. And while nothing screams comfort food to me like a whole roasted chicken, I am an equal opportunity cook of all things fowl.

 

Looking for something different to do with some chicken breasts, I caught the tail end of a cooking show that mentioned chicken curry. Now I haven't frequented many Indian restaurants, nor have I experimented with many Indian dishes. But after doing some recipe research, I was convinced that a curry dish might be just the thing to add a little kick to our dinner.

 

Here's what I made:

 

And here's how it came to be:

As I mentioned there was a bit of research to figure out what spices and other ingredients should go into the dish. Here are the cast of characters based on what I had in the pantry and spice cupboard, plus what I knew I could pick up at the local grocery stores:

• 1 small, chopped onion
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 3 tablespoons curry powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger (not shown 'cause I forgot...oops)
• 2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into bite-size pieces
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 cup plain yogurt
• 3/4 cup coconut milk
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Now pulling this together is incredibly easy and pretty quick. First drizzle some olive oil in a pan that over medium heat. Toss in your onions and saute them 'til they just start to brown around the edges.

To the onions, toss in the garlic, curry powder, cinnamon, paprika, ginger, sugar, and salt to taste.

Give it all a good stir and then I want you to put your head over the pan and smell it. It will knock your socks off, in a very good way. I want to have my kitchen smell like this all the time.

Let that onion/spice mixture cook for about 2 minutes. Then add your chicken, tomato paste, yogurt, and coconut milk.

Bring the whole thing to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and cook for about 20 minutes. As the sauce reduces down, the color will deepen, as will the flavor of the spices.

See what I mean about the color? Once the sauce is at this point and your chicken is cooked through, stir in the lemon juice and cayenne pepper. Cook for 5 more minutes and it's time to eat!

As you saw in the very first picture, I opted to serve the curry over rice. David was kind enough to remind me that we had broccoli, bless his heart, because I would never have thought of it because, well, it's a vegetable. He steamed it up as a side and our plate was complete.

Having now made this dish a couple of times, I found that while the curry tastes really good after the initial cooking, it tastes even better if it's made the day before serving. That extra 24 hours to let all the flavors marry takes it over the top. The next time I make it, I want to try marinating the chicken with the yogurt and spices for about an hour, then plopping it into the pan with the onions. Don't know if it will make any difference, but what the heck? I may be on to a slightly different flavor profile that takes it in whole different direction!

Chicken Enchiladas

In between bouts of power washing and painting more of the exterior of our house, I spent some time in the kitchen this week playing with some old and new recipes. The first one I tackled was an old favorite of ours – chicken enchiladas. This is a dish we would make from time to time when we lived in the States, but I hadn’t given it a go since our move here to Belize.

Now in the past, I would have relied on canned enchilada sauce, but that’s not something I could find here in Corozal. So off I went to the Internet to find out how to make my own. Not surprisingly, there are a ton of recipes out there, and after sifting through a bunch, I decided to use bits and pieces of recipes I liked that would work with the ingredients I had on hand.

So mis amigos, let’s see how it all played out.

First I combined 3 Tablespoons of vegetable oil and 1 Tablespoon of flour to make a roux:

 

Once that got stirred around for a couple of minutes, I added 1/4 cup of chili powder. Yes, I said 1/4 cup:

Now, I will admit that I was initially a teeny bit hesitant about the quantity. I mean, would my lips end up falling off from the heat? Would my taste buds be scarred for life? But I decided to be brave and work with it.

After the chili powder got stirred around and cooked in the roux for about 30 seconds, I added 2 cups of homemade chicken stock, 8 ounces of tomato sauce...

 

...about 8 ounces of tomato paste, 1 teaspoon of dried oregano, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and about 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Now at this point, any cocinero (chef) worth her salt, would give the mixture a taste. I did and...well I'll warn you that it will seem a bit harsh, and it will need some more salt. But have faith and bring the whole shebang to a boil, then reduce to a simmer, and let it cook for about 20 minutes.

 

Now when you taste it, you'll be saying Hola Amante! The flavors should have all melded together to make this deliciousness. There will be warm undertones from the chili powder, but not much heat. It actually reminded me of more of a mole sauce. Your lips and taste buds will not fall off or be damaged in any way. Instead, they will thank you.

With the enchilada sauce now taken care of, I could get busy making the rest of the dish, with a helping hand from David.

But first, let me introduce our enchilada fillings:

 

Say hello to shredded chicken, sauteed onions, sliced black olives, and shredded cheddar.

I ladled some of that sauce into my baking dish and spread it around.

 

 I also poured a teeny bit into a warm saute pan and began to heat up our tortillas, which one by one, I handed off to David.

 

He piled on the fillings... 

 

...then rolled up each tortilla and placed them in the baking dish.

 

But wait! We can't leave them naked! Oh no, sir. We need to cover them up with lots of lovely things, like more enchilada sauce, more olives, and of course, more cheese.

 



I popped the baking dish into a pre-heated 450-degree oven for about 20 minutes. When done, oh my!

Serious taste -- gooey cheese, that warm and inviting sauce, the chicken, the olives. They all came together. And you know what? Even if I can eventually find canned enchilada sauce here, I doubt if I would buy it when I can make my own (which tastes way better, if I say so myself).

Buen Provecho!