Cast Iron Skillet Chicken "Pot" Pie with Buttermilk Biscuit Topper

One of the beautiful things about cast iron skillets is their ability to go straight from the stove top into the oven. Initially, I had been very intimidated by cast iron skillets because I didn't know how to care for them. It wasn't until I went to Cape Cod for Memorial Day a few years ago and was made one of the most delicious breakfasts I've ever had did I begin to reconsider.
Two of my best friends picked up on this, somehow read my mind, and gave me mine as a Christmas gift last year (xox thanks D&K).

I am now completely obsessed.

What you'll need: 

• Frozen buttermilk biscuits 
• 1 1/2 c. chicken stock 
• 1 c. whole milk 
• 3 tbsp. all-purpose flour 
• 1 1/2 tsp. adobo seasoning 
• 1 chopped large onion - I prefer the Spanish onions 
• 2 c. frozen veggies (corn, green beans, carrots, peas, whatever your pleasure) 
• 3 tbsp. butter 
• 2 c. shredded chicken (already cooked) You can use rotisserie or leftover roasted chicken 
• 2 tbsp. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 
• Salt to taste

What you'll do: 

1. Shred your chicken, set aside 
2. Preheat your oven according to the directions on your packaged biscuits, for me, this meant 400 degrees. 
3. Place your burner on medium heat. 
4. Add the butter to your skillet and once it begins to bubble/froth, but before it browns, add your onions. 
5. Cook your onions until they begin to turn translucent and then add the rest of your frozen vegetables. I also added about 1/2 teaspoon of salt. 
6. Allow your vegetables to cook until the onions caramelize, and your vegetables soften, this should take about 2-4 minutes depending on the strength of your burner. 
7. While the veggies are on the stove top, whisk together your chicken stock, milk, flour, and adobo seasoning. 
8. Once your vegetables have softened slowly and gently stir in liquid mixture. 
9. You're going to want to bring your pan to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring often, until the mixture begins to thicken, which should take about 7 minutes. 
10. Once your pan begins to reduce, add your shredded chicken and fresh parsley, allow this to cook for about 5 minutes. 
11. Then add your uncooked biscuits to the top of your pan and pop your skillet into the oven on the middle rack. 
12. Cook the biscuits according to their package directions, mine took about 12 minutes watching them so that they won't brown too much. 

Remove from the oven and relish in this comfy, cozy, dinner that only takes a little over a half an hour to pull together.

[Serves about 4-5 people]

If you're terrified of owning a cast iron skillet because you also don't know how to care for it, I would check out this great article from Serious Eats that dispels a lot of the myths surrounding Cast Iron skillets: https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/the-truth-about-cast-iron.html

It's totally worth the little bit of extra effort it takes to upkeep it.

It's getting chili out

It's been a while but I will be updating soon with new recipes, in the interim here's some snapshots from the chili I made last week... recipe to follow

Beer Bread

Things are finally getting back to normal after Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy. No more police at the gas stations, ridiculously long gas lines, power is slowly being restored and most of the trees that were downed are removed from the roads. The recovery is going to take a while but clearly as the following photo will show at least to a certain extent, our household was prepared for our two week blackout...

Hurricane Supplies... sort of. 

Bear in mind, these were only the supplies I was instructed to pick up before the storm hit, everyone else brought reinforcements. As the blackout continued the boys kept restocking and once the fridge started working again, we still had a whole cooler filled with "supplies." 

This recipe is incredibly easy to do. You should keep in mind that whichever beer you chose to use for your bread is going to really impact the flavor. I realized that I like there to be a bit of bite in this recipe so I used the Brooklyn Brewery's Oktoberfest.  

Brooklyn Brewery 

What you'll need: 

• 3 cups of all purpose flour 
• 3 tbsp. of sugar
• 1 tbsp. of baking powder
• 1 tsp. of salt
• 2 tbsp. of honey
• 1 bottle of 12 oz. beer (your choice) 
• 4 tbsp of melted butter (approximately half a stick)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) together in a bowl. Then, in a separate smaller bowl put the honey in the microwave for 3-5 seconds and mix with a small amount of the beer. This makes it easier to not only mix the honey in, mix into the dry mixture thoroughly along with the rest of your beer. 

Grease and flour a loaf pan. 

Now take half the butter and pour it into the bottom of the loaf pan. Add your batter, and top with the rest of your melted butter. It looks a little funky but it makes the top nice and crispy. 

Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, allow it to cool for 15 minutes and enjoy!

You could also add cheddar (1 cup) and jalapeños (1/4 cup) and serve with a bowl of chili, and a nice cold beer. 

If I was going to add the cheddar and jalapeños, I would omit the honey and use the following ingredients/proportions;

• 3 cups of all purpose flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder 
• 1 teaspoon of salt 
• 1/4 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of cheddar (shredded) 
• 1/4 cup of jalapeños
• 1 bottle of 12 oz. beer
• 1/4 cup of butter

Add the cheddar and the jalapeños last after the rest of the batter has been prepared. 

Chicken Empanadas

Before starting on the dough which would be the most time consuming I wanted to marinate the chicken.

For my marinade I used :

• Paprika 
• Garlic 
• Pepper 
• One shot of Citron Tequila  
• Thyme 

Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit while you prepare the dough.

For the empanada dough recipe I looked up a few different variations. The one I ended up going with calls for the following:

• 3/4 cup of cold water
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp. of white vinegar 
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 tsp salt 
• 3 tablespoons of shortening, I used Crisco's Vegetable shortening

In a separate bowl beat the egg, egg white, vinegar, and water together.

I beat the egg white first before adding the other ingredients. Whipping some air into the egg white adds to the volume of the mixture.

 Mix the flour and the salt together. 

Add the shortening into the flour mix and blend thoroughly. 

Make a well in the center of the flour, and pour the liquid mixture into the flour. 

Slowly mix the ingredients all together with a fork until it becomes more solid.

Begin to knead the dough until it gets more solid. 

Sprinkle some flour onto a hard flat surface, place the dough on the surface, and knead until the dough is smooth. 

Once the dough is smooth, wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least one hour. You can freeze the dough but it is better if it's used on the day you make it. It makes about 15-20 three inch empanadas.

Once you're done with the dough start preparing the chicken. 

Take the chicken and place it in a baking dish. Add some crushed tomatoes to the baking dish and some chicken stock. Roast it in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. 

While that is cooking, dice 1/4 cup of green chili peppers 

and one yellow onion. 

Take the diced onion and caramelize it in a skillet with a little bit of olive oil and salt. 

 

Add the chilies cook for 2 minutes and remove from the heat and reserve in the skillet. 

After the chicken is done cooking remove from the oven and allow it to sit for five minutes. 

Remove the chicken from the baking dish and shred it using two forks into bite sized pieces. Add the chicken to the onion and chili mixture in the pan with 2 tablespoons of Old El Pico Taco seasoning mix for chicken. Cook this mixture on low heat for 3-5 minutes. Remove it from the heat. 

Roll out your dough onto a floured surface. Use a measuring cup as a gauge for how big you would like your empanadas to be. 

 

Cut the dough into your desired size circle and fill with the chicken mixture. Remember that you will have to seal the dough completely around the mixture so for a 3 inch diameter empanada you would fill it with approximately 1 1/2 tablespoons of your desired mixture. 

Then fold over the dough into a half moon shape. Take a fork and pinch the two halves of the dough together. Repeat this until you have used up all the dough. 

Place a clean frying pan with approximately 1/4 inch of olive oil onto medium heat.

Test that the oil is sufficiently hot by putting in it a small amount of the scrap dough you have left over. If it begins to cook the oil is hot enough. Remove from the oil to prevent it from burning.

Cook one to two empanadas at a time for about 2 -3 minute per side. you will be able to tell that the empanada is ready once it turns a golden brown color. The reason for cooking them individually is so that the oil maintains the correct temperature. If you were to try to cook too many at one time the oil wouldn't be hot enough and the dough instead of getting crispy would get soggy and slimy.

Once it has completely cooked place it onto a plate lined with a paper towel so as to absorb any extra oil from the empanada.

Repeat until all the empanadas are thoroughly cooked.

You can serve these with sides of guacamole, salsa and sour cream.

 Enjoy! 

Black Tie Mac' N Cheese

-Black Tie Mac'N Cheese- 

What you need:

1) Zebra Bowties (Pastificio Pozzo del Re)

Zebra Bowties

2) 1/2 a teaspoon of Black Truffle Olive Oil 

3) Cheese

 I used a combination of grated Pecorino Romano (about 3/4 cup), and Saint-Marcellin.

Saint-Marcellin is a French cheese made from cows milk. It is nice and soft and has a Brie like texture once cut into.

4) Salt/Pepper, 

5) 1/2 an onion

6) Chives 

7) Skim Milk (about a half cup)

As you're waiting for the water to boil, chop/caramelize the onion and reserve it for later. Also, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. 

Pasta: So obviously, you boil the pasta, drain it with a colander (reserve a little of the water with the pasta). We're talking maybe 2 tablespoons worth. Add the half cup of skim milk and mix it in.

I then quartered the St.Marcellin and folded that into the pasta.

When your pasta has a definitive shape it's important to remember to mix in the cheese gently so not to mangle the bow-ties.

Once you've successfully incorporated the St. Marcellin, add the 3/4 cup of Pecorino Romano, chives, and the caramelized onions. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Pour your mixture into a baking pan.

I topped off my Mac N' Cheese with some crushed olive tortilla chips. The chips are called "Food Should Taste Good" Olive Tortilla Chips. I had originally bought them for another dish, but I wasn't able to make it as they were scavenged. 

They're that good.

I love my gator grater! I think everyone should have one... It's by "Boston Warehouse" and I got mine at TJ Maxx but you can find it on Amazon.

 Pop it in the oven and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes at 325 degrees.

Mac 'N Cheese Please

So I don't know about you, but one of my favorite things to make EVER is mac 'n cheese. It's the perfect hodgepodge. I mean, how can you possibly go wrong with any combination of cheese and pasta?!? This one here is my basic quick and dirty combo. I'm sure you'll get different variations of this ooey gooey goodness in later postings as well.

To Start:

1 lb of pasta

1 small shallot

1-2 sliced scallions

crumbled bacon

1 16 oz bag of shredded cheese, we used cheddar and parmesan

2 small cans of Campbell's cheddar soup mix

Salt and Black Pepper

bread crumbs

Prepare the pasta; boil and salt the water, wait for the rapid boil add the pasta, tap your fingers for the amount of time allotted on the pasta instructions stirring occasionally, drain the pasta through a colander leaving a small amount of the liquid in the bottom of your pot.

While the pasta is boiling, use a small frying pan to caramelize your shallots.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Mix in the two cans of Campbell's cheddar soup, the shredded cheese, the scallions, 3/4 of the bacon and the caramelized shallots together and then pour into a baking dish.

Sprinkle on the rest of the bacon, some bread crumbs and I like to add a little more of the shredded cheese on the top.

Bake in the oven for about 20- 25 minutes.

Eat & Enjoy!!!