Trying Some New Recipes

In my ongoing quest to shake up the menus around here, I recently tried a couple of new recipes.  One is a soup that appeared in the March 2015 issue of Country Living.  It's a lemony chicken orzo soup.  Since I love Panera Bread's version, I figured it was well worth a try.

It's light, yet filling.  The fresh dill adds a nice touch.  You can find the recipe on the Country Living site here.

An even better success was a scrumptious mini chocolate chip Bundt cake.  It was a big hit with me and our son.  I found this recipe in one of those compilation fundraiser cookbooks -- love those.

My cake stuck to the pan a little bit, as you can see in the photo below.  The topping is put in the pan first, and is maybe a little too buttery.  Tastes great, but leaves the fingers a little greasy if eating out of hand.

Nutty on top!

Imminently snackable

Toll House Bundt Cake

from A Cookbook by Sunset House Auxiliary Toledo Ohio (1991)

2 3/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon vinegar

1 cup less 1 Tablespoon milk

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1 Tablespoon vanilla

4 eggs

1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Nut Topping:

1/2 cup butter, softened

4 Tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/3 cup chopped nuts

For topping, combine butter, sugar and nuts; mix until crumbly.  Spoon into well-greased and floured 12-inch Bundt (or tube) pan.  Chill in refrigerator while you prepare cake batter.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.  Place vinegar in 1 cup measure, fill with milk to 1 cup line; set aside.

In large mixing bowl, combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla; beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Turn mixer to low.  Gradually add flour mixture, 1/3 at a time, alternating with milk.

Gently fold in chocolate mini chips with a rubber spatula.  Pour into prepared pan.  Bake at 375 degrees F for 50 minutes.  Loosen edges of cake with spatula.  Immediately invert on cooking rack.

Printable recipe

Keen for Quinoa

Quinoa is one of the current darlings of healthy eating.  While quinoa has been grown in the Andes for centuries, most Americans didn't discover it until the latter twentieth century or even the twenty-first century. It's a fun change of pace from rice, even if it isn't actually a grain. (It's a seed, did you know that?  I used to think it was a grain.)

Quinoa has become popular in my family, especially with our son.  He discovered that a local grocery store sells bulk quinoa, so he stocks up when he visits and uses it with chicken several times a week.  Because, you know, this family eats a LOT of chicken.

I often marinate chicken in some variation of a soy sauce marinade before grilling.  It's fast and I always have ingredients on hand.  Recently, I came up with my own version of a common quinoa recipe using soy sauce and garlic to pair with the grilled chicken.  This is a simple weeknight kind of meal.  It comes together quickly and is tasty and healthy.  Pair it with a salad, and dinner is ready in half an hour, tops!

I call it Fusion Quinoa Chicken because it has South American quinoa; olive oil and garlic, often associated with Mediterranean diets; and Asian-inspired soy sauce.  (I always use Kikkoman soy sauce because it is made in Walworth, Wisconsin, less than ten miles from the Illinois border, near a town we used to live in.  I was so surprised the first time, years ago, when I saw the factory sitting in a Wisconsin field.)


Fusion Quinoa Chicken

Chicken :

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon sugar

2 large chicken breasts, well trimmed

Slice chicken breasts in half horizontally to make thinner pieces.  Set these aside in a shallow dish.  Combine olive oil, soy sauce, vinegar and sugar in a small bowl and mix well with fork.  Pour marinade over chicken and allow to marinate for about 15 minutes at room temperature.  Turn chicken occasionally.  While chicken marinates, prepare ingredients for quinoa.  After quinoa has reached the simmer stage, grill chicken, turning occasionally, until cooked through.   Baste with remaining marinade whenever turning the chicken.

Quinoa:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4-1/3 cup diced onion

3 cloves minced garlic (about 1 1/2 teaspoons)

1 cup mixed red and white quinoa (you can use a single color if desired)

1 cup water

1 cup reduced sodium, fat free chicken broth

3 teaspoons low sodium soy sauce

1 tablespoon salted butter

3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley

Heat olive oil in medium saucepan over medium heat.  Saute onion and garlic until soft.  Add quinoa and cook about one minute, stirring constantly.  Add water, chicken broth and soy sauce.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for about 15 minutes, until liquid is absorbed.  Turn off heat and add butter, stirring until it is melted.  Stir in parsley and transfer quinoa to serving bowl.   Top quinoa with cooked chicken breasts and serve.  

Printable recipe

Mmmmm, Monterey Chicken

If you've read my blog very much, you know I cook a lot of chicken.  Grilled, baked, fried, slow cooked -- if it's chicken, we'll eat it.  Yesterday, I browsed my Pinterest food board looking for something new to prepare for dinner.  And what do you suppose appealed to me?  Yep, chicken.  I came across a Monterey Chicken photo I had pinned a year ago and never tried.  I clicked through to the blog where it originally appeared, All Things Simple: Inspiration for a Simple Life, for the recipe.

Grilled and ready to pop in the oven to melt the cheese.  I used KC Masterpiece Original barbecue sauce.  I think next time I'd like to try a more smoky flavored sauce.

A hit!  It's marinated and grilled, then topped and baked.  It's easy to prepare and makes a nice presentation (once it's taken off the cookie sheet!).  Click here for the link to the original recipe on All Things Simple by Kim McCrary.  I followed her recipe pretty closely.  As Kim suggests, I marinated the chicken for about a half hour prior to grilling.  The only changes I made were:  She used Montreal Steak Seasoning in her marinade, which I replaced with Montreal Chicken Seasoning.  I also used a smaller can (10 oz.) of Rotel tomatoes and I had one additional chicken breast. Somehow, my chicken turned out just as tomato-y as hers appear in her photo.   I probably also upped the amount of cheese because, well, I just love cheese and it's hard to overdo yummy melted cheese.  I used sharp cheddar instead of colby with the monterey jack just because I didn't have any colby on hand.  The final change I made was to cook and crumble a nice smoky bacon rather than use bacon bits.  One piece of bacon per chicken breast seemed adequate.

After baking, the cheese is all melty goodness.  

We completed the meal with a mixed greens salad and some corn on the cob.  The final flourish was the white wine we got on our trip to Cedarburg, Settlement Gold.  It was delicious.  Sweet with a slight apple flavor.  A very good, inexpensive wine. 

Excuse Me, What? Word Choice and Rocket Chicken

I love words.  As a writer and an editor, I guess that's not much of a surprise.  Written or spoken, words are what get me.  I've never been a fan of action movies, for example, or slapstick.  Give me good dialogue anytime.  Take this classic scene from The Thin Man.  William Powell and Myrna Loy are unbeatable actors, but the script by Albert Hackett and Frances Goodrich, based on Dashiell Hammett's novel, also gives them a lot to work with.



I love witty dialogue, especially when it doesn't rely on curse words to get a laugh.  I also get a kick out of unintentionally misused language.  Years ago, I got quite a chuckle when someone on PBS said the network would be having a special program during pledge time featuring "Pearl Bailey and just a list of guests."  I imagined Pearl Bailey standing onstage with a scrap of paper.  No way, old Pearl knew it takes at least "Two to Tango."

A parkway --
or is it a devil's strip?

Another fun thing about language is regional variations.  In the United States, for instance, there are numerous ways to describe an Italian sandwich -- submarine (or sub), grinder, hero, hoagie, po' boy, and doubtless other variants.  And you can wash that sandwich down with a soft drink, a Coke (as a generic term), a soda, or a pop.  When it's cold, one can wear long johns or thermals depending on where you live. The strip of grass between the sidewalk and the street?  What I call a parkway is also known as a tree lawn, a nature strip, a sidewalk buffer, and even a devil's strip.  When I was a teenager, my group of friends was fond of decorating people's yards with toilet paper -- what we called rolling yards.  The first time I heard a Midwesterner refer to tp-ing a yard, I honestly had no idea what that meant!  It even took me a while to figure out why it was called tp-ing (duh).  Having a mother from the south and a northern father, I got to hear some different word choices growing up depending on which side of the extended family I visited. My northern grandfather called flowers "posies," which I found charming, and which led to the name of this blog, and instead of saying something was small, he would say "little wee," as in "Look at the little wee posies."

Of course, if we start comparing American English to British and Australian English, we could go on forever with the different words for things.  In my work, I edit employee surveys for consulting firms.  One company that I used to work with has a lot of clients in Australia.  The first time I came across an employee saying "here at the coal face," I found that expression fascinating and much more evocative than the common U.S. expression "on the front lines."

Okay, you're no doubt saying, what the heck does all this have to do with chicken and what is rocket chicken anyway? Well, one of my favorite word variations has to do with food.  What we in the United States call arugula is more commonly called rocket in England and Australia.  When I adapted a Gordon Ramsay recipe for Sticky Lemon Chicken into a less sticky dish with more sauce and served it on arugula, I decided Rocket Chicken sounds much more fun than Arugula Chicken.  Rocket Chicken will blast your taste buds and take you places!  (Well, maybe it won't transport you, but it will blast your taste buds.)

Rocket Chicken

3 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves, well trimmed (slice in half if needed to reduce thickness)

Salt, freshly ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon powdered thyme

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 large garlic cloves, cut into halves or thirds

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar or rice vinegar

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

1/4 cup honey

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce

3/4 cup hot water

1 bunch of arugula (salad rocket)

Season chicken very lightly with salt and with freshly ground pepper and the thyme.  Heat the olive oil in a large, non-stick skillet over high heat.  Cook chicken and garlic, turning as needed, until cooked through.

Add vinegars and cook over medium heat for about five minutes.  Add honey, lemon juice, and soy sauce.  Mix together.  Add hot water.  Cook at medium to medium high for 20-30 minutes to reduce liquid.

Place chicken on bed of arugula.  Drizzle sauce over top of chicken and arugula.  Serves 2-3 people.

Printable recipe

Chicken Palaw to Fill a Bare Table

"Beware the barrenness of a busy life."  When Socrates said this, I doubt he was talking about my dinner table, but he might as well have been.  When I get too busy with work or home projects or whatever fills my days, sometimes the dinner table takes on a barren, forlorn look, as though nothing of value will appear there -- a mere baked potato, pasta with sauce from a jar, or take-out.  I can only take so much of this, however, before I crave "real" food.

Recently I've been busy moving furniture, painting, patching, ripping out carpet, and more painting.  After a while, though, a girl needs a good meal to keep her going.  So the other day I got the urge for Chicken Palaw, a recipe I copied out of Country Living magazine many years ago.  (Maybe I was inspired to cook this by those viewings of The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, who knows?) As you can tell from the name, it's Indian influenced, but not really authentic Indian fare.  Still, it's quite flavorful and a change of pace for a weeknight dinner.

Chicken Palaw

From Country Living magazine

1 1/4 cups basmati rice 

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 cup butter

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 large carrots, cut in 1/8-inch julienne strips

2 whole boneless chicken breasts, cut in 2-inch chunks

1/4 cup apple juice

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/4 teaspoon ground coriander

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons raisins

2 tablespoons pistachios

2 tablespoons sliced almonds

In heavy 5-quart stock pot, heat 2 quarts water to boiling over high heat.  Stir in rice and 1 teaspoon salt.  Return to boiling and cook, uncovered, 10 minutes.  Drain rice.

In same pan, melt butter with 2 tablespoons olive oil over low heat.  Spoon half of the rice into pan and press down with back of spoon to make a firm layer that covers the bottom of the pan.  Spoon remaining rice loosely on top, then top this with carrot strips.  Cover top of pan with linen towel and a tight lid.  Cook 35-40 minutes or until bottom layer forms a crisp, golden crust.

Meanwhile, in large skillet, sauté chicken in remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat until golden on all sides.  Add apple juice, spices, and ½ teaspoon salt.  Stir until chicken is coated with spices.  Cook, stirring frequently, until chicken is cooked through and liquid is evaporated, about 5 minutes.

To serve, in large bowl, combine steamed part of rice/carrots with raisins and nuts and toss to blend.  Top with chicken mixture.  Break bottom rice crust into pieces and place around the edge.

The rice base before adding the chicken -- rice and carrots tossed with pistachios, slivered almonds, and raisins.

Printable recipe

A Borrowed Recipe for Rosemary Parmesan Chicken

You may remember my very blackened Spanish chicken from about a month ago.  It was flavorful but not very pretty. Recently, Ann, from On Sutton Place, posted a recipe for a different kind of baked chicken.  I felt a little trepidation, but hers looked scrumptious, so I felt like I should give it a try.  I'm so glad I did.  As she says, it is "truly a one-dish wonder."  Rosemary Parmesan Chicken, where have you been all my life?  Please stop by her blog and check out the recipe (and the rest of her blog, for she is one talented lady).

The recipe couldn't be simpler.  I followed it pretty much to the letter only I used fresh garlic instead of garlic powder. With rosemary from the garden, bread crumbs made from potato rolls, and paired with a salad of mixed tomatoes and basil, it was delectable.  Please click here to go to On Sutton Place for the recipe.

The Best Fried Chicken

Fried chicken: everyone has his or her own idea of a "best" fried chicken.  I have had lots of good fried chicken -- the bone-in, skin-on fryer pieces my mother used to cook in her electric skillet, the tender parboiled and fried chicken my Aunt Irene used to make -- who can say which is really the best?  What I can say is that this is the best fried chicken that comes out of my own kitchen.  A tender, buttermilk marinated piece of chicken joy.

There is no real recipe for this dish.  I use boneless, skinless breast meat which I usually cut in half through the thickest part to make each piece thinner and a little more uniform.  Trim off all fat, pierce each piece all over with a fork, and soak, fully immersed, in a buttermilk bath for at least four hours.  If you want a little more zip, you can add a splash or two of Tabasco sauce to the buttermilk.  Dredge each piece in salt-and-pepper-seasoned flour and fry in hot vegetable oil, turning only once.  I usually dredge in the flour twice, letting the chicken rest just a couple of minutes in between.

Any time, any place, winter or summer.  Love this chicken.

Light and Crunchy for Summer

Summer is in full swing here in Illinois.  We've been sweltering in the mid to upper 90s for about a week.  I know that is routine in many parts of the U.S., but here in northern Illinois, it's above average for June.

One nice thing about the coming of summer is that it's time for lighter foods. One of our favorites is Chinese chicken salad.  The name is no doubt completely erroneous -- the Chinese probably would deny all knowledge of this dish -- but it does have a little bit of an Asian flair.

This salad is easy to make, especially once the chicken is cooked and shredded.  If you want to make life really easy (after all, it is summer), you could make the dish with rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, but I have never tried that.  I stick with chicken breasts that I braise in a little water and shred as soon as they are cool enough to handle.

I prefer this salad as a combination of cool and warm ingredients.  When I assemble the salad, the cabbage is cold, the chicken is usually about room temperature, and the noodles and almonds are still quite warm.  You can have everything chilled if you prefer or if you want to prepare all the ingredients in advance.  It is important not to dress the salad until immediately before serving, however, or the noodles will lose their crunch.

Chinese Chicken Salad

4 cups (approximate) chicken breast, cooked, shredded

1/2 medium/large head cabbage, chopped

10 green onions, chopped

1/2 cup butter

2 packages Ramen noodles, crushed

1/4-1/2 cup slivered almonds

Dressing (whisk all together):

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1/3 cup rice vinegar

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 cup sugar

Mix chicken, cabbage, and green onions together in a large bowl. 

Melt butter in non-stick skillet.  Add crushed noodles and almonds.  Cook, stirring frequently, until nicely browned.

Add noodles to chicken/cabbage mixture.  Toss to mix.  Add dressing.  Toss to mix.  Serve immediately.

Printable recipe

Guy Fieri's Taj Maholla!

Finished dish on basmati rice

Are you looking for something new and different to do with chicken?  We eat a lot of chicken at our house and are always on the lookout for new taste sensations.  This chicken dish from Guy Fieri fills the bill.  I have made it a couple of times, so I naturally had to tweak it a little after the first try.

This recipe uses chicken thighs, so it is pretty economical.  Be warned, however, this is not a quick dish -- there are several steps involved -- but it is quite tasty.  Especially if you double the amount of spices as I do.  I use garam masala that I purchase at our local food co-op, so I can't vouch for Fieri's masala recipe. I serve the chicken over basmati rice for further Indian taste.

You can find the recipe here on the Food Network website.

Chicken thighs after baking, still on the bone

Boned and shredded chicken added to the sauce

Nigella's Chicken Schnitzel

I once heard an interview with Michael Caine on NPR where he recalled growing up with a somewhat opinionated and unenlightened father.  His father apparently refused to eat chicken as it was not a manly meat.  Whether it is manly or not, we eat a fair amount of chicken at our house, so I'm always looking for new ways to prepare it.  The other day, I stumbled on a recipe from Nigella Lawson for chicken schnitzel with bacon and white wine.

It's not really a proper schnitzel, but it did sound interesting, so I gave it a try.

The sauce looks mostly like bacon grease here, but there is wine in there!

The chicken was flavorful. I used a hickory smoked bacon for a smoky flavor and some Yellowtail Moscato, which added a touch of sweetness.   I also added a sprinkling of salt and pepper, which the recipe did not include.  The chicken itself was a little thick.  I had cut the breasts in half, but I think next time (if I am not too lazy) I will go the extra step and pound them into very thin pieces.

If you aren't afraid of unmanly meat, you can find the recipe on Nigella Lawson's website.

Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Winter returned to our corner of the Midwest with a cold blast this week.  Here's a chicken cacciatore recipe to warm you up on chilly nights.

This dish is an Emeril Lagasse recipe that I have slightly modified.  It is not hard to prepare, but does require some time on the front end.  Once it is in the crock pot, though, you are home free.  Lagasse recommends serving this over pasta, but we most often serve it over brown rice at our house.

The recipe calls for bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs.  To save calories, you can substitute chicken breasts or use skinless thighs.  The flavor, however, will not be as rich.  I have tried both, and always come back to bone-in, skin-on thighs.  I do trim off excess skin and fat before cooking.

Crock Pot Chicken Cacciatore

Adapted from Emeril Lagasse

8 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin on

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons Emeril’s Original Essence (recipe follows)

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 large yellow onions, sliced

1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2-3 tablespoons minced garlic (can slice or chop for larger chunks if desired)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 tablespoon dried basil

1 large or 2 medium bay leaves

1 (28 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, cored and rough chopped, with juices

1/2 cup dry white wine (can omit)

1/4 cup tomato paste

seasoned and ready for dredging

Trim excess skin and fat from chicken thighs.  Season both sides with salt and pepper and Essence blend.  Pat gently to make sure seasonings adhere.  Dredge chicken lightly in 1/4 cup flour.

Heat olive oil in large nonstick skillet.  Brown the chicken thighs until golden on both sides.  Transfer chicken to crock pot.

In same skillet, add onions.  Cook until softened and lightly carmelized.  Add red pepper flakes, garlic, oregano, rosemary, basil, bay leaves and 2 tablespoons flour.  Cook, stirring, for 1 to 2 minutes.

sauce ready to go in crock pot

Add tomatoes, wine, tomato paste and stir to combine and heat through.  Pour tomato mixture over chicken in crock pot.  Cook on low for 6 hours or so, until chicken is cooked through and bones easily pull out.

Remove bones, skin, and cartilage.   Pull meat apart into chunks.  Serve over rice or pasta.

Recipe for Emeril Lagasse Essence

5 parts paprika

4 parts salt

2 parts: garlic powder

ground black pepper

onion powder

cayenne pepper

dried oregano

dried thyme

Printable recipe

Easy Fifties Chicken

I am trying to stick to my resolution to eat healthier.  (Pay no attention to that cheeseburger behind the curtain!)  So last night after a busy, snowy day, I fell back on this easy chicken recipe I use on those evenings when I want a healthy entree that doesn't require a lot of hand-holding.  It's quick to whip up, then you just stick it in the oven, put some brown rice on to steam, and come back in about half an hour or so to a tasty dinner.

When you mix it up, it may seem like a lot of extra sauce but, if served over rice, the sauce is absorbed by the rice and helps add flavor.

Fifties Chicken

Adapted from Eater’s Choice: Low Fat Cookbook by Dr. Ron Goor and Nancy Goor

¼ cup unbleached white flour

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

½ cup chopped onion

½ cup chopped green pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil

¾ cup orange-pineapple juice

1-2 large cloves garlic, crushed, or 3-4 small cloves, whole

2-3 shakes of Tabasco sauce

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Saute onion and green pepper in olive oil medium saucepan until tender.  Mix in orange-pineapple juice, garlic, Tabasco sauce, mustard, and soy sauce.  Heat over medium heat while flouring chicken.

Lightly flour chicken, covering both sides.  Place chicken in a single layer in a shallow baking dish.  Cover with sauce.

Bake chicken for 30-45 minutes or until cooked through.  Serve over brown rice.

Printable recipe

A Chicken in Every Pot (Pie)

So I guess Herbert Hoover never really promised a chicken in every pot; at least that's what the Herbert Hoover Library says, but wherever the phrase originated, it hits home with me.  We have had an unusually warm winter so far in northern Illinois -- temperatures in the high 40s and even low 50s.  What?  In January?  Our snow-thrower has been gathering dust in the garage.  Last night, however, was predicted to be the beginning of a real Midwestern winter.  We expected to wake up to at least a couple of inches of snow.  Well, still no snow, but I used that weather forecast as an excuse to warm up and fatten up last night with chicken pot pie.

I make my pot pie using an Ina Garten recipe as the starting point.  But where she adds pearl onions, I add potatoes.  I also add thyme and use less salt and butter.  If you'd like her original recipe, you can find it at the Food Network site.

The filling is ready!

This pot pie is the real-deal comfort food -- warm, creamy, rich, and tasty.  Be warned, though, it is not for a quick dinner.  I started a little late last night (maybe 5:30), and we didn't eat until around 8:30.  I also missed half of the Chicago Bulls game because I was in the kitchen.  Even so, it is always worth the trouble for this delectable pot pie.

Chicken Pot Pie

Adapted from Ina Garten, 2005

4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless

olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

5 cups chicken broth

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 cup butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 cup diced onion (about 1 onion)

3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup heavy cream

2 cups diced carrots

2 cups diced potatoes

1 1/2 cups frozen peas

For the pastry:

3 cups flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1/2 cup cold butter, diced

1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

                                                                                                                                                               

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the chicken breasts on a baking sheet and rub with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Roast for 35-40 minutes, or until cooked through.  Set aside until cool enough to handle, then dice into bite-sized pieces.

Put carrots and potatoes in a medium saucepan, cover with water, and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until partially cooked.

Make the pastry.  Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder.   Add shortening and butter and mix with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour and the pieces of fat are no larger than peas.  Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time, adding only enough to make the dough hold together.  Place dough on lightly floured board and knead a few times into a ball.  Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

In a small saucepan, heat the chicken stock with the thyme.  In a large pot, melt the butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil.  Saute onions over medium heat until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add the flour and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly.  (This will be very thick.)  Add the hot chicken stock to the flour mixtures and whisk until all the flour is incorporated.  Simmer over low-medium heat, stirring, until the mixture is very thick (about the consistency of potato soup).  (If your sauce is not thickening sufficiently, you can whisk in a tablespoon or so of Wondra flour.  Be sure to use Wondra to avoid clumping.)  Add freshly ground pepper to taste and the heavy cream.  Stir well.  Add chicken, carrots, potatoes, and peas.  Heat over very low heat while you roll out the pastry.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Roll out dough into a rectangle to fit over a 9x13 pan.  Spray pan lightly with vegetable spray (like Pam). 

Spoon filling into pan and place dough on top.  Fold under the edges of the dough for a slightly crimped edge, or press down to allow it to hang over the sides.  Brush dough with egg wash.  Cut three slits in the crust.

Place pan on baking sheet and bake for about 1 hour, or until the top is golden brown and the filling is bubbling hot.  Allow to stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

If you let it set a while before serving, it is less runny.  I can never wait!

Printable recipe

Chicken Paprika for a Blustery Day

It was cool, windy and damp all day here.  The weather put me in the mood for some old-fashioned comfort food, so for dinner I made chicken paprika.  I still make my chicken paprika the way I did when my children were young -- with bite-sized pieces and served over pasta rather than spaetzle.  My recipe is adapted from The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cook Book by Zoe Coulson (1980).  It doesn't photograph well, plus I used too much pasta tonight, so the finished product is drier than it should be.  But it still tasted good!

Chicken Paprika

3 chicken breasts (halves), cut in bite-sized pieces

1/3 cup flour

2-3 tablespoons oil

1 large onion, diced

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon paprika

Pepper to taste

1 ½ cups water

1 chicken-flavor bouillon cube

½ cup sour cream

Coat chicken with flour; reserve remaining flour.  Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat; add chicken and cook until lightly browned on all sides.  Remove chicken.

Add remaining flour and onions to skillet.  Cook, stirring frequently about 2 minutes.  Stir in salt, paprika, pepper, bouillon and water.  Mix well.  Return chicken to skillet; cover and reduce heat to medium or low.  It should bubble, but not be a rolling boil.  Simmer for 25 minutes or until chicken is tender.

Stir in sour cream until blended and heat through.

Serve over spaghetti or linguine.