Chicken and Biscuits

This is one of my favorite comfort foods. And having just returned from vacation, being sick, and dealing with several feet of snow, I had a craving for some comfort food yesterday.

Of course, I also wanted something easy as I hadn't yet had time to thaw an entire chicken nor did I have the inclination to stew and shred it, etc. but I didn't want to use canned condensed soup or packaged baking mix. So I looked over several recipes and came up with this one:

For the chicken:
4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 lb., or, about 3 c. shredded chicken, cooked any way you like to)
1 pint of chicken stock, perhaps a little more if needed
3 Tbsp butter, salted
3 Tbsp flour
1 stalk celery, diced small
1 medium onion, diced small
1 large carrot, diced small
Poultry seasoning, thyme, sage, etc.
salt, pepper
cream (optional)
Mixed vegetables, thawed

Preheat the oven to 425 F.

Poach the chicken breasts in the stock until cooked through. Or, you can of course use any cooked chicken or even turkey and skip this step. I saved the stock to use a little later. You can use your favorite broth but if you're not going with homemade I really like Pacific Foods organic free range chicken broth. Set the chicken and broth aside.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Add the onion, carrot and celery (mirepoix). Cook on medium until the vegetables soften, about 10-15 minutes. Starting your soup or stew with a mirepoix gives it a wonderfully rich flavor so here's where you don't want to skimp on cooking time.

Meanwhile, shred or cube your cooked chicken and make your biscuits. Use your favorite recipe, or here's the one I used:

2 1/4 c. flour
1 stick butter, grated or diced and kept very cold
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. buttermilk

Combine flour, powder, soda and salt. Cut in butter until it resembles cornmeal. I generally just use my fingertips. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add buttermilk, all at once, stirring only until it's just combined. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead 10 times by patting it out and then folding it in half. Pat out into a flat circle about 1/2 inch thick. Use a floured biscuit cutter and cut out your biscuits, place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 12-14 min or until golden brown. If you want, you can brush the tops with beaten eggs or butter before baking, or add a little thyme to the dry ingredients before adding the buttermilk.

Sprinkle seasonings over the veggies, add flour and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring often. Add 2 c. broth, and bring to a boil. Stir in the cream, chicken and veggies, and cook just until it's all heated through. Turn off heat and let it sit and thicken for a few minutes, then serve over halved biscuits.

Have a couple of extra biscuits fresh out of the oven with butter, too.

Pork Roast with Warm Cabbage Mustard and Champagne

As soon as I saw this recipe on Cook Like an Iron Chef I knew I was going to be making it. It is right up my alley. I had a boneless pork roast in the freezer so I knew it wasn't going to be a perfect recreation but it was going to be good. I also did not have the fresno chilis and I would have loved to include them but I just couldn't find them.
I disappointed myself by overcooking the pork a bit but that was my fault not the recipe. The flavor was fantastic.


I would definitely recommend it.

Blackened haddock with flash fried daikon and pea puree

I love the internet.I was milling around today trying to find a recipe that would use up some of the ingredients I had in the house. Ingredients that would also fit into a diet type thing we are currently on. We had some haddock fillets in the freezer and some daikon radishes from last weeks CSA pickup.  I was trying to fit celeriac or kohlrabi in as well but that was not in the cards for today. I did however find this beauty on a blog called The Portobello Kitchen, sadly it looks like it has been abandoned but I plan to mine it for several more recipes.

I followed the recipe pretty faithfully, I used haddock instead of halibut, the haddock fillets I had included the skin on one side which actually takes to blackening beautifully. I also didn't have any sprouts but I topped it with some arugula and a drizzle of olive oil to finish it and it worked wonderfully.

I must say that I am not typically a fan of blackening things. There was a period where everything seemed to be blackened in restaurants and it was often done so badly that I really avoided it as a technique.  It is so easy to go over the top with salt and other seasonings that you destroy the flavor of what you are cooking. You might as well blacken your hat for all the flavor the ingredients brings in some dishes. That being said, really be careful with your spice rub, don't over do it on the cayenne or salt. I would add them last and really mix it up well before tasting it. Try dipping a celery or carrot stick in your rub before applying it to your fish, that way you have a measuring stick for how overwhelming the flavor is ( or hopefully isn't)

The daikon was a real treat, I got lazy and did more of a thin steak fry cut instead of a true julienne, and looking back I think I should have gone for the julienne. The daikon strips were really tasty but since they had to fry a little longer they got a bit soggy.

The pea puree was a star, I used regular old frozen peas, added some salt to the water before boiling them and then used the stick blender with some granulated garlic and olive oil. It was really tasty, the pea flavor shined through while providing a great base for the fish and a contrast in texture and flavor. Pea puree will be involved in my food again very soon.

Green Tomato Pie?

Yes it is exactly that, and it is a sweet pie rather than savory. As odd as it may sound it is really delicious. It is similar to an apple pie in many ways. I followed the recipe from food network with a few exceptions. I omitted the raisins. I like raisins, I just don't typically like them in things. After tasting it tonight I can say they would have brought in nothing else but more sweetness which in my opinion this did not need at all. I also didn't use the pie crust recipe they had as a part of it. It looks like a good recipe but I have a family recipe I love and can make by feel so I don't mess around. If you are like many other people and don't make your own crust go ahead and use your favorite store bought brand. I won't judge. (much)

The taste was really quite unique, it definitely says "hey I'm and apple pie" and then it says "well maybe not quite, I have citrusy flavor and savory quality that is not quite apple" followed but "you really want another bite of me though."

As a way to use up a lot of green tomatoes, readily available this time of year I would definitely encourage you to try this. I am tempted to try dredging the slices in a completely savory spice blend and maybe tossing in some caramelized onions, or leeks or something because the texture was really delicious and I can see it working well as a savory pie.

Great stuff.

Tomatillo Chili with Pork

I was trying to figure out what to do with a mountain of tomatillos and decided the time had come to figure out a way to use them more than a few at a time. Enter green chili , chili verde or Colorado chili as it is also known.
I had heard of green chili but never made it. I knew it was made with pork (always a winner in my book) and a variety of green peppers both hot and not
I figured there had to be a way to make green chili with the abundance of tomatillos so a quick google search later and I found this recipe. A quick peruse of the other entries in the Meathenge repertoire and I was convinced this was going to be good.

I followed the recipe pretty closely other than I really backed down on the hot peppers since Kerrie is not a big fan of heat. In hindsight I should have gone for 5 or 6 poblanos instead of the 3 I had, to really bring the pepper flavor without the heat.

As I was making it and adding stock I was thinking "gee you know a beer would be great in this in lieu of some of the stock" I was right, beer would have been a nice subtle flavor.

As the recipe states it is very busy at the beginning if you follow those steps. I did not find any compelling reason not to get the tomatillos done first, then roasting the poblanos, then starting the pork while the poblanos rest. It was manageable but I don't see it as necessary to do all at once.  The flavor of this dish is outstanding, the tomtatillos have a great tartness and the sweetness of the peppers  really plays off of it nicely.The cumin and onions and chilies give you the traditional chili flavors you expect but at the same time it is something very different.
The pork was fall apart tender after 4 hours or so. We served it over a bed of rice to absorb some of the really fantastic broth. If I had let it simmer with the lid of it would have thickened up nicely and I am sure tomorrow it will be nice and thick and I can try it on a tortilla for lunch.