Chicken Stew with a Pastry Crust

Waking up to a temperature of 41 degrees F is such a nice change. I love the cooler weather of fall, even if the daytime temperatures have still been in the mid-80s and this weekend we'll be in the 90s again. Evening temperatures have been dropping a bit, too, which means it's OK to bake things for dinner like this great Chicken Stew with a Pastry Crust. The house still cools down overnight, so we still have that cooler thermal mass to help the living space stay cool without air conditioning.

You could call this dish a chicken potpie, but I made it in a skillet not a pie pan, so I like this name better. Either way it is a savory, comfort food sort of dish and great as the weather starts to turn cooler in the northern hemisphere.

Now you may think that this is a dish for the weekend when you have a lot of time, but really, if you have a rotisserie chicken, pre-rolled pie crust like the Pillsbury Ready Bake kind, and frozen mixed vegetables, you are halfway there. Don't be intimidated by the cream sauce. When you add the liquid all at once to the cooked flour, don't panic...it will seem lumpy. Just keep stirring like crazy and you will be amazed to find yourself with a wonderful white sauce to bind all the pot pie ingredients together. In case you are wondering, I made this without a recipe using proportions that I knew from past experience work.

I made the cream sauce that holds all the elements together with non-dairy butter and soy creamer, but you can easily make it with butter and whole milk, evaporated milk, or half and half. If you make it with lower fat milk, it will still be delicious, but less creamy tasting.

The sauce goes together in about 10 minutes.  Getting the chicken off the bone and cut into bite sized pieces while the frozen veggies defrost is about another 10.The sauteed veggies take another 10 or so. By that time the oven is probably preheated and then you bake it about 15 minutes to bake the crust and heat everything through. So you can have this on the table in 45 minutes or less. Toss together a salad while the crust bakes and you have a great meal. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

Chicken Stew with a Pastry Crust  
Serves 6-8

3-4 cups cooked chicken, cut into bite sized pieces (from a rotisserie chicken or leftover are good)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1/2 a red bell pepper, stem, seeds and ribs removed, chopped
1  stalk celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1/2 cup frozen peas
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter or margarine
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/4 cups milk
1 cup chicken broth
1 pie crust, rolled out (if  using refrigerated crust, bring to room temperature first)

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

In a large oven-proof skillet, saute the onion, bell pepper, celery and carrot until the onion is translucent and beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue to cook, lowering the heat to medium, and stirring often, for another 4 minutes. Set aside.

Cook the frozen veggies in a large bowl in the microwave  2 minutes. Add the cooked chicken that has been cut into bite sized pieces. Microwave 1 minute (unless the chicken is already warm). Remove from the microwave and scrape the cooked onion mixture into the bowl. Stir to combine.

In a medium saucepan melt the butter. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon or flexible spatula. Stir while flour cooks a bit, about 1/2 minute.  Add the seasoning and the thyme, some salt and pepper (what you would usually use for a sauce) and stir to combine. Place the milk and broth together in a container with a spout (I use a large measuring cup). Add the liquid to the hot flour mixture all at once, then stir briskly to combine the flour mixture with the liquid. Continue to stir as the mixture cooks for 3-4 minutes and becomes thickened. Pour over the chicken and veggies in the bowl and stir gently to combine.

Wipe out the oven-proof skillet with a paper towel. Scrape the chicken stew mixture into it and top with the pie crust. Tuck the end under or let them come up the side if the crust is larger than the pan. Cut 2-3 slits in the crust for steam to escape.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, or until the crust becomes golden brown. Serve at once.

Comfort Food Like It's The 1960s

We are coming to the end of 2016 and I am delighted that NoHandle has given us the gift of another guest post:

My eclectic reading led me to a discussion of the national cuisine of Great Britain not being Fish and Chips, but rather Curry. This brought back some memories of a dish that didn’t make it into Elle’s cookbook, but was served at home at least a few times. Internet searching suggests it was somewhat commonplace into the 1960s. It was called 9-Boy Curry, where the 9 might be any number between 5 and 12, and signified the number of servants (boys) that would have been needed, in England’s far-Eastern empire, to serve the condiments that enlivened the dish, and that topped the curry after it was served. A quick survey of the Internet yielded the basic recipe, a chicken curry, and that it was traditionally served over white rice (at least in the U. S. of the period), plus an extensive list of condiments, with which you can go wild. They are listed at the end of the recipe and narrative given here.

That curry is archetypically British was already known to me. There is no curry native to Indian cuisine as such, and in fact the composition of this melange of spices, apart from the “5 Cs” and turmeric, is highly variable. The closest Indian mixture is probably Garam Marsala. Curry was composed for the British occupiers, and exported home when they left. In my brief visit to London a few years ago, I didn’t notice any particularly large number of curry shops, but I wasn’t looking for them either. My friend Butterfly spent several months in London, and assures me the British eat a LOT of curry.

With that preamble, here is a quick trip through preparing this exotic comfort food. Like curry powder, this recipe is a blend of several sources. It’s all good. The list is long, but preparation is quite simple:

Ingredients:

2 three-lb. roasting chickens or 8 chicken breast halves

            (It has been noted that this is also a great way to consume turkey leftovers.)

1 yellow onion, quartered

4 whole cloves

1 carrot

2 celery stalks

2 Tablespoons of parsley

1 bay leaf

1 teaspoon salt
_____________________________________________________

½ Cup butter

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 Tablespoons curry powder (or to taste)

½ teaspoon ground ginger (fresh ginger is even nicer, about 1 Tablespoon shredded should work)

1 teaspoon dry mustard

¼ teaspoon smoked paprika

½ teaspoon ground pepper

dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

2 green apples (Granny Smith will do) peeled and sliced

2 onions, chopped

1 14-oz. can of tomatoes with green chillies, drained

3 Tablespoons flour

½ teaspoon salt

4 Cups (reserved) chicken stock

1 lemon’s juice

½ Cup dry white wine

½ Cup half and half

Cooked rice (basmati is nice for this)

Directions:

We are starting with a chicken stock, so in a deep stock pot, place whole chickens (or breasts) with the next eight ingredients (above the line above). Add enough water to cover the chickens plus a couple of inches. If you are using chicken breasts, layer the seasonings with the chicken. Cover and simmer until just tender, but not falling apart. For me, at altitude (Denver, U.S.A. area), this was about two hours from a standing start. The only attention was to turn down the heat once it boiled (about 30 minutes). Chickens cook quickly, but stock pots vary wildly. Skim the stock if foam collects. 

When done, remove the chicken to cool; skin, bone, and cut into bite-sized pieces. A pair of tongs was my most useful tool. Strain and reserve the stock. You will have lots more than you need.

Next prepare the sauce; this part takes about 45 minutes. Sauté garlic in the butter, then the flour and seasonings. This blooms the spices before the other ingredients dilute the effect. Add the onions, apples, tomatoes, and cover. Cook for 10 minutes, then add stock (4 cups), lemon juice, and wine.

Cook an additional 15 minutes until smooth and fairly thick. Divide this sauce into two batches and blend. 

Add enough cream to reach the desired consistency (fairly thick; you know, covers the back of a spoon). Restore the chicken pieces to the sauce and heat gently for 10 minutes. You could put this in a warmer on the table so people can serve themselves small portions as they mix and match the condiments. 

Serve with a side steamer of rice, and of course your selection of condiments. Pass them around, family style, or place in the center for easy access. You won’t want to try everything together, but you might choose a few, server yourself a little more and try a different selection, repeating until you have found your favorites. Some combinations will be surprisingly good; who knew that this paired so well with that? It’s an adventure!

At about the same time as you start the sauce, you will want to start the rice (unless your using MinuteRice, which I do occasionally). Here I used James Beard’s technique for “steamed” rice, done in a skillet. Cover the rice (1 cup here, but probably 2 cups or more with a full recipe) with about an inch of water, and heat to boiling. Then reduce to a simmer. Takes about 20 minutes. It came out slightly gummy.

Condiments (choose a dozen or less from this list):

Crumbled bacon

toasted coconut

grated egg yolks

grated egg whites

chopped toasted peanuts (boiled peanuts toast really well)

sunflower seeds

chopped crystalized ginger (or sweetened dried ginger slices, chopped; check Costco)

sultanas (golden raisins)

raisins

chopped celery

diced carrots

chopped onion (red or yellow)

diced pickled onions

strips of citrus zest (both lemon and lime; experiment with grapefruit)

chopped scallions

chopped toasted (or smoked) almonds

chutney (lots of choices here)

dried (or fresh) pineapple shreds

avocado pieces

chopped olives

orange marmalade

This is a great family or friends experience, seeing how your flavor palates compare, and trying new flavors from a land that is not traditionally known for rich spices. By the way, this is not bland, but neither is it as spicy as most dishes at an Indian restaurant. My wife (sorry girls ;-) is not a fan of strong spices, and she liked this a lot. Experiment with the amounts of spices too. Enjoy! ~NoHandle