My, Oh My, Chicken Pie

We are having a glorious Indian summer here in northern Nevada - warm days and cool evenings. Despite the temperate weather, our thoughts are turning to fall comfort foods, and who doesn’t like chicken pot pie? This one doesn’t include the traditional vegetables but is rich and satisfying.
 
Sue initiated the discussion for this meal after seeing this chicken pie on the PBS “Cook’s Country” show. They refine recipes through extensive testing and provide the best recipe for any given dish. After tasting this chicken pie, we applaud their process.   Despite the simplicity of the seasonings in this dish, it has a wonderful depth of flavor.

We had decided on roasted carrots to go with this pie and came up with the glaze to bring out their sweetness. A picture and recipe in the latest “Whole Living” magazine persuaded us to not roast Brussels sprouts as planned, but to “go raw” with a Brussels sprout salad.

We started off our cooking adventure this week with some very fine cheese and fruits. This meal is a labor of love and we needed sustenance. Meg had a Gouda she wanted to share, along with some brie and an American creamy blue cheese. This all went really well with a nice California merlot.

Moravian Chicken Pie
From Cook's Country
December/January 2012
Serves 8

If you get less than 2 tablespoons of fat from browning the chicken in step 4, supplement it with butter. The pie may seem loose when it comes out of the oven; it will set up as it cools.

INGREDIENTS

Crust
1/2 cup sour cream, chilled
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups (12 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled

Pie
2 (10- to 12-ounce) bone-in split chicken breasts, trimmed and halved crosswise
3 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup half-and-half
1 large egg, lightly beaten

INSTRUCTIONS

1. FOR THE CRUST: Combine sour cream and egg in bowl. Process flour and salt in food processor until combined, about 3 seconds. Add butter and pulse until only pea-size pieces remain, about 10 pulses. Add half of sour cream mixture and pulse until combined, 5 pulses. Add remaining sour cream mixture and pulse until dough begins to form, about 10 pulses.
2. Transfer mixture to lightly floured counter and knead briefly until dough comes together. Divide dough in half and form each half into 4-inch disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. (Dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic and foil and frozen for up to 2 months. Thaw completely at room temperature before using.)
3. Remove 1 dough disk from refrigerator and let sit for 10 minutes. Working on lightly floured counter, roll into 12-inch round and transfer to 9-inch pie plate, leaving 1/2-inch overhang all around. Repeat with second dough disk and transfer to parchment–lined rimmed baking sheet. Cover both doughs with plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. FOR THE PIE: Pat chicken dry with paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium-high heat until just smoking. Cook chicken until browned all over, about 10 minutes; transfer to plate. Pour fat (you should have 2 tablespoons) into small bowl; reserve. When chicken is cool enough to handle, remove and discard skin. Add broth, chicken, and bay leaf to now-empty pot and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered, until breasts register 160 degrees and thighs register 175 degrees, 14 to 18 minutes. Transfer chicken to bowl. When chicken is cool enough to handle, shred into bite-size pieces, discarding bones. Pour broth through fine-mesh strainer into second bowl and reserve (you should have about 2¾ cups); discard bay leaf.
5. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 450 degrees. Heat butter and reserved fat in now-empty pot over medium heat until shimmering. Add flour and cook, whisking constantly, until golden, 1 to 2 minutes. Slowly whisk in 2 cups of reserved broth and half-and-half and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer gravy until thickened and reduced to 1¾ cups, 6 to 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Combine 1 cup gravy with shredded chicken; reserve remaining gravy for serving.
6. Transfer chicken mixture to dough-lined pie plate and spread into even layer. Top with second dough round, leaving at least 1/2-inch overhang all around. Fold dough under itself so that edge of fold is flush with outer rim of pie plate. Flute edges using thumb and forefinger or press with tines of fork to seal. Cut four 1-inch slits in top. Brush pie with egg and bake until top is light golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees and continue to bake until crust is deep golden brown, 10 to 15 minutes. Let pie cool on wire rack for at least 45 minutes.
7. When ready to serve, bring remaining ¾ cup reserved gravy and remaining ¾ cup reserved broth to boil in medium saucepan. Simmer over medium-low heat until slightly thickened, 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve pie with gravy.

We use gravy to form the base for the filling in our Moravian Chicken Pie and also to serve with slices of the pie.
GRAVY FOR FILLING Combine 1 cup of thick gravy with the shredded chicken for a sliceable filling.
GRAVY FOR SERVING Thin the remaining thick gravy base with fortified chicken broth to make gravy for serving.

Weight Watchers: 17 points

Glazed Carrots
Recipe developed by Meg
For Saturday Night Specials 10/20/2012
Serves:  4
8 medium carrots, scrubbed
Olive oil for roasting
Salt & pepper for roasting

Glaze:
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 Tbsp. frozen orange juice concentrate
½ tsp. smoked paprika
1 tsp. orange zest

Rub carrots with olive oil. Place on cookie sheet. Salt & pepper to taste.

Roast carrots in 375 degree oven for 30 minutes. Remove from oven, baste the carrots in the glaze and roast for an additional 10-15 minutes.

Weight Watchers: 6 points

Brussels Sprout Salad with Avocado & Pumpkin Seeds

Recipe: Whole Living, November, 2012
Serves: 6

Finely grated zest of 1 lemon (1 tsp.)
1  ½ Tbsp. lemon juice (juice of 1 lemon)
1 ½ tsp. Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 lb. Brussels sprouts, trimmed, leaves separated
2 Tbsp. pumpkin seeds, toasted
1 avocado, sliced

Whisk lemon zest and juice and mustard in a small bowl. Gradually add oil, whisking to emulsify, and season with salt and pepper.

Toss dressing with Brussels sprout leaves and pumpkin seeds. Gently stir in avocado and adjust seasonings.

Weight Watchers: 5 points

 

We had this Riesling for the first time with the Tandoori chicken and knew immediately that it would also be a great complement to this meal. (Those wine classes at Total Wine are paying off.)

Baked apples are a standard fall dessert. It took Meg five minutes to pick the prettiest apples from the store display. The clerk stocking the produce was watching her closely. After the apple selection she moved on to gourds.

Baked Apples
Recipe developed by Meg & Sue
For Saturday Night Specials 10/20/2012


Serves:  4
4 Macintosh apples
 ½ cup bourbon
½ cup golden raisins
½ cup walnuts, toasted
2 Tbsp. Honey
 Dusting of cinnamon and ground ginger
1 Tbsp. melted butter

Pour bourbon over raisins. Heat in microwave for about 30 seconds. Cover and let sit for at least 3 hours.

Wash apples and hollow out leaving bottom intact, and peel about ½ inch from top. Place in an oven proof dish. Stuff the apples with soaked raisins and walnuts, alternating until generously filled. Pour some of the bourbon from soaking the raisins over the filling. Drizzle the honey into the cavities.
Brush the exposed apple flesh with melted butter and dust with cinnamon and ginger.

Pour enough water into the baking dish to come up the sides of the apples about ½ inch. Bake in 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Turn off oven and let sit until ready to serve.

Toppings of choice:
1-2  Tbsp. bourbon sauce per apple
Whipping cream
Vanilla ice cream

Bourbon Sauce
CDKitchen http://www.cdkitchen.com
Serves/Makes: 1.5 cups

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1 beaten egg
1/2 cup bourbon whiskey

Directions:
Melt butter over medium heat, add sugar and water and cook, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Gradually add butter and water mixture to egg, beating constantly. Slowly stir in bourbon.



Our unsolicited and biased opinions:

We loved this chicken pie. We recommend that you do all the chicken prep the day before, including the gravy. This is not a week night dish, but it is totally worth the time investment for a special occasion.  The crust is wonderful.

If you like carrots, you will love this dish. The smoked paprika and the orange juice elevate them from “just roasted” to something special. Watch them closely after adding the glaze.

We really liked the concept of the Brussels sprout salad, however the raw sprouts were tough and didn’t really have much taste. We like Brussels sprouts cooked a variety of ways and were disappointed in this recipe.  Great vinaigrette, though. We are going to try this again and will blanch the sprout leaves briefly in salted water and then immerse them in ice water. We anticipate that this will develop more flavor.

The baked apples were like the best of  an apple pie. Total comfort food. Sue's only change to the bourbon sauce recipe was to cook the sugar mixture longer, about 4 minutes total, before adding the sugar to the eggs.

Right now we are very full and happy and glad we spent the time on this meal. Cheers!

A Taste of Mexico (or any excuse for another margarita!)

Our favorite dish at a Mexican restaurant is always chiles rellenos.  We judge a restaurant by this dish and  are tough critics when it comes to rellenos. We decided to take up the challenge, and this recipe pleased us, but we made a few changes. Are you surprised? 

Summer produce is still readily available, and we took full advantage by sautéing corn on the cob, sweet peppers and yellow summer squash for a side dish.  

Sue lobbied for one more return of the infamous margaritas from our “Cinco de Mayo” posting. Meg did not object.  

Meg had artisan tortillas in her freezer, which we converted to tortillas chips to complement our “how we like it” guacamole.  


Artisan tortilla home made chips

 

 

How We Like It Guacamole
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg
For Saturday Night Specials 10/6/2012

1 large and 2 small avocados, seeded and  coarsely mashed
1 lime juiced
2 small tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
Garlic salt and black pepper to taste

Weight Watchers:  8 points

Roasted tomatoes, onion and jalapeno for the salsa.

Roasted Salsa

Roasting the chiles on gas stove burners. Very handy!

A roasted chile, sliced open and seeded.

The stuffed chiles frying.

Stuffed Poblano Chiles ("Chiles Rellenos")

Recipe courtesy Marcela Valladolid
Prep Time:  20 min
Inactive Prep Time:  --
Cook Time:  15 min
Level:  Easy
Serves:  6 servings

Ingredients

Sauce:
5 red plum tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup chopped white onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 jalapeno pepper (added from the reviews)

Chiles:
1 1/2 cups Monterrey Jack cheese
1 tablespoon dried oregano
6 poblano chiles, charred, seeded, and deveined *see Cook's Note
3 egg whites, at room temperature
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
All-purpose flour, for dredging
Vegetable oil, for frying

Directions

Sauce: Put the tomatoes, garlic and onion in a blender. Blend until smooth. In a medium saute pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the sauce and simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Chile rellenos: Mix the cheese and oregano in a small bowl. Cut a slit through 1 side of the charred chiles and fill each chile with 1/4 cup of the cheese mixture. Close with toothpicks to hold the filling in place. In a medium bowl, using an electric hand mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed until soft peaks form. Add the egg yolk and continue to beat for about 1 minute.
In a large heavy-bottomed saucepan, pour in enough oil to fill the pan about a third of the way. Heat over medium heat until a deep-frying thermometer inserted in the oil reaches 375 degrees F. (If you don't have a thermometer a cube of bread will brown in about 3 minutes.) Dredge the filled chiles in flour until fully covered. Shake off any excess flour, then dip the chiles into the egg mixture, until well coated. Fry until golden brown and drain on paper towels.
Arrange the chiles on a serving platter, spoon the sauce on top and serve.

Notes
To char the chiles (or any fresh chile): Put the chiles over a gas flame or underneath the broiler and cook until they are blackened on all sides. Enclose them in a plastic bag and let stand for 10 minutes to steam, which will make them easier to peel. Peel, stem, and seed the chiles. Once peeled, the chiles may be chopped, sliced or stuffed.

Weight Watchers: 10 points per rellano with sauce

Stuffed chile with roasted salsa.

Pepper, Squash and Corn Sauté
Recipe developed by Sue & Meg
For Saturday Night Specials 10/6//2012 

15 small tri-color peppers, sliced in half and seeded

2 large yellow summer squash, sliced and cut in half
2 large ears, fresh corn on the cob, cut from the cob
3 Tbsp. olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
3 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped for garnish.

Heat olive oil in large skillet. Add corn and suate for 3-4 minutes. Add remianing vegetable and cook until squash and peppers are crisp-tender.

Weight Watchers:  3 points

Sauteed corn, peppers and yellow squash.

To round out the meal we had the most decadent Chile Chocolate Pecan Cookies served with one of our favorites --- Van Gogh Double Espresso Vodka.  OMG!


Chile Chocolate Pecan Cookies

Makes: about 3 dozen
From: “Great Desserts of the American West, Frances Towner Gieldt, Lone Star Books

Ingredients:

2 c semisweet chocolate chips
6 T (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 c plus 2 T sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 t vanilla extract
1 c plus 2 T unbleached all-purpose flour
1 t ground cinnamon
½ t baking powder
½ t salt
¼ c crushed dried New Mexican red chiles
2/3 c chopped pecans

Place 1 ½ cups of the chocolate chips in a 1 quart microwave-safe bowl, microwave, uncovered, on medium power for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring after 2 minutes, until chocolate is melted and smooth.  Let cool.

Preheat oven to 350’.  Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. 
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Beat in vanilla and cooled chocolate.
In a bowl combine flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt.  Gradually stir into egg mixture, mixing well.  Stir in ground chiles, pecan, and remaining ½ c chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Cool cookies on a rack.

Weight Watchers:  3 points per cookie

Chili Chocolate Pecan Cookies with Van Gogh Double Espresso Vodka

Our biased and unsolicated opinions:

We changed up the salsa by roasting 7 quartered Roma tomatoes, 1 medium quartered white onion and 1 seeded jalapeno, drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper. The roasting brought out the sweetness and gave a smokiness to the salsa.  After roasting, we coarsely chopped them in a food processor and added them to the pressed garlic, which we had sautéed in a tablespoon of olive oil.  We served the salsa at room temperature and think it would be better on the chiles served warm. 

We used a combination of Monterey jack and pepper jack for our filling. After reading the comments on the Food Network, we chose not to char the peppers as much as we would have normally and put them in the freezer prior to coating them for frying. They were crisp-tender, and we prefer softer chiles. This calls for a re-do, oh darn.   

After removing the corn from the cob, we started sautéing it first, then added the squash and peppers. These were crisp-tender, which was our intention.  

We used a combination of La Tortilla Factory Green Chili, Corn and Wheat Chipotle, and Mission Flax  Seed & Blue Corn Blend tortillas, sliced into quarters, brushed with olive oil, salt and pepper. We roasted them for 20 minutes per side in a 375 degree oven. The chipotle tortillas were thicker and did not crisp at the same rate as the other tortillas. They should have been started sooner or roasted separately. We really liked the variety of flavors and textures with the guacamole.  

These cookies are like eating a chewy fudge brownie with a slightly spicy kicker at the end. Meg says she is going to start adding chiles to all her brownies. (OK by Sue.) We thought a quarter cup of chiles might be too much, but it seems just right. We didn’t have any New Mexico dried chiles; so Meg selected dried Guajillio chiles after taste testing 4 dried varieties. In the first bite you get the chocolate and the cinnamon. The chiles sneak in at the end. Soooo good, especially with the espresso vodka, although Meg says that they are equally good with a latte in the morning.

 An altogether wonderful meal.

Salud, amor, pesetas y tiempo para disfrutarlos.