Savory Chicken Hand Pies

  If you're always finding yourself with an abundance of leftovers from a previous nights meal, here's a fun and tasty idea to use up leftover chicken.  This delicious "portable" version of a chicken pot pie, similar to a pasty, is very simple to make and also versatile.  They freeze very well, either baked or unbaked, so make up several of them, and have them on hand for a tasty snack or a quick meal.  Turkey or ground beef can also be used, and experiment with different veggie combos, or make an all veggie one!

  You want to start by making the filling first, because it needs to chill, in the refrigerator, before making the actual pies.  

For the filling, you'll need:

1 heaping cup of cooked shredded chicken meat (this can be leftovers or from a store-bought rotissiere chicken)

2 Tbs unsalted butter

½ cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/3 cup chopped carrot
½ teas coarse salt
2 Tbs all-purpose flour
1½ cups chicken broth (low-sodium store bought or homemade)
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese  

   To make the filling, melt the butter in a 10" skillet, on medium heat.  Add the onion, celery, and carrot and saute for 3 minutes.  Stir in the salt and flour and cook for 1 minute more.

   Add the chicken broth and stir until it thickens, about 2-5 minutes.

  
  Stir in the chicken and the Parmesan cheese.  Cool and chill the filling in the refrigerator.

  Now make the pastry dough.  For the novice baker, this has been deemed the most forgiving dough to work with.  Easily rolls out and doesn't tear.  The cream cheese allows this dough some elasticity and the results are tender and flaky.
  If you don't have a food processor, this can all be done by hand.

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream
1½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teas coarse salt

  In a food processor, process the butter, cream cheese, and cream until smooth.
  Add the flour and salt.  Process just until combined and the dough holds together in a ball.

    Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface.  Divide into 2 equal pieces.  Flatten into disks and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.  Can also chill the dough overnight, but be sure to take the dough out of the refrigerator 15 minutes before rolling out.

  Preheat the oven to 375° Fahrenheit.  Butter or line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat liner.

  Working with one dough disk at a time, roll dough out onto a floured surface to about 1/8" thick.  Using a 5" round cutter or an overturned bowl (about 5" in diameter) cut out circles, 3 at a time.  Re-roll dough scraps and cut out more circles.  You should have a total of 10 circles, 5 from each piece of dough.

 
Place ¼ cup of the chilled filling on one side of a dough circle.  Wet the edges of the dough with a little water.  Fold the dough over to form a half circle.  Pinch the edges closed and crimp with a fork.  Repeat this with the remaining dough circles.  At this point, the hand pies can be frozen.

   
  Place the hand pies on the prepared baking sheets and chill for about 15 minutes.  Prick each hand pie on top, twice, with a fork.  Whisk together 1 large egg with 1 Tbs water.  Brush this egg wash over each hand pie.  Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown.  Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.

   Make plenty, because these hand pies will disappear quickly.  

   Baked hand pies can be cooled and then frozen, and reheated in the microwave.
  To bake the frozen unbaked pies, simple place the desired number of hand pies on a prepared baking sheet, as directed above, brush with the egg wash and bake as directed above, adding about 5 minutes more to the baking time.
  For a great party appetizer, try cutting 3" circles and using about a Tbs of the filling, and continue as directed!

Chicken Potpie for those cold wintery nights dinner!

Potpies, which in their most common form are simple stews of meat or poultry and vegetables baked inside a pastry crust, have an all-American air about them. But they're actually an evolution of the freestanding meat pies once so popular in medieval cookery. From the Middle Ages through the 1600s and beyond, women all over Europe arranged their grains, vegetables, and occasional bits of meat inside sturdy crusts that they would carry to the town's communal oven for baking. In the baronial kitchens of England, cooks loaded tremendous pastry crusts with minced pork, veal, chicken, rabbit, and venison.

The English brought their pie-making enthusiasm with them to the New World, where hearty pies of deer, rabbit, and wild herbs helped sustain thousands of new arrivals in the perilous fledgling colonies until vegetable crops could be planted. Settlers brought chickens with them to Jamestown in 1607, and the birds multiplied with biblical force. Their tough hearts, gizzards, and livers were chopped, liberally seasoned, and baked in pastry crusts made from flour, water, and lard: a dubious, early American rendition of chicken potpie.

This potpie takes a little time to make but the end result is so delicious and hearty. I baked this in a vintage ironstone china soup tureen for a gorgeous presentation. A 3 quart casserole or souffle dish will work just fine.

The recipe is as follows:

1/3 pound of Puff Pastry

5 T. all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

5 T. unsalted butter

1 large onion, chopped

3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" pieces

3 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 1" pieces

12 oz small cremini mushrooms, cleaned & stems trimmed

1/3 cup cognac

2 cups of chicken stock

1 cup of milk

5 cups of poached or roasted chicken, torn into 1" pieces

1 cup shelled green peas

2 T. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

2 T. fresh thyme leaves

3 teas. coarse salt

1 teas. freshly ground black pepper

At lease 3 hours before making this, roll out puff pastry on a lightly floured surface to a 3/16" thick square. Place on a baking sheet, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for at least an hour. Remove chilled dough, place on a cutting board. Directly onto the dough, invert a bowl or place a lid that is 2-1/2 to 3 inches larger than the diameter of a 3 qt round casserole or souffle dish. With a sharp knife, cut around the bowl or lid so that you have a circle. Return circle of dough to the baking sheet, wrap tightly with plastic wrap, and chill for at least 2 hours.

Place rack in lower 2/3 portion of the oven and preheat to 425 degrees. In a large heavy-bottom pot, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add onion, potatoes and carrots. Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are fork tender, 10-12 minutes. Add mushroom, cooking until heated through. Add cognac and cook for 30 seconds.

Add flour, and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Pour in chicken stock and milk. Bring to a simmer, cook until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in chicken, parsley, thyme, salt & pepper.

Transfer to tureen (casserole or souffle dish) and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes. The filling should just come to the top of the baking dish.

Now make an egg wash by combing 1 large egg, 1 egg yolk and 1 teas. water and whisk together in a small bowl. Remove dough circle from refrigerator, and brush surface evenly with egg wash. Invert dough and place directly over the casserole, pressing lightly to seal overhanging crust to the sides. Brush top surface of dough with egg wash. With a 1/2" large round pastry tip (#7), cut a small circle in the center of the pastry, removing the pastry circle, and insert the pastry tip, narrow side down, into cut-out hole. This allows the steam to vent.

Transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes; cover loosely with aluminum foil to prevent crust from burning, and continue baking 25 minutes more. Serve piping hot from the oven!

Chicken & Dumplings

Autumn is in full swing and the types of meals during this time of the year are comforting and hearty "one-pot" meals like Chicken & Dumplings!

Chicken and Dumplings is a popular comfort food dish commonly found in the Southern and Midwestern United States that is also attributed to being a French Canadian dish that originated during The Great Depression.

A dumpling, in this context, is a mixture of either flour, shortening, and water or milk, or flour and stock which is then formed into a ball or rolled out flat.

Chicken and dumplings as a dish is served with a combination of boiled chicken meat, the broth produced by boiling the chicken with vegetables, multiple dumplings, and salt & pepper for seasoning.

There are probably as many chicken and dumpling recipes out there than anything! This recipe comes from Lucinda Scala-Quinn and her latest cookbook, Mad Hungry: Feeding Men & Boys. You can also find the recipe here: Chicken & Dumplings.
I love how this recipe also utilizes 2 very delicious but under-used vegetable, turnips and parsnips.

This particular recipe is actually quite simple to put together and is ready in about an hour. In a large dutch oven, place the whole chicken, onion, carrot, celery, turnip, parsnip and parsley sprigs. Cover with water, bring to a boil, then simmer for about 50 minutes.

Lift out the chicken and vegetables, discard the onion and parsley. Continue to simmer the broth for 15 to 20 minutes to allow the chicken to cool slightly. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones and shred the meat into large chunks. Preferably, I like to use just the white meat here and save the dark meat for chicken salad, but you can use the meat as you like in this dish.

Next, prepare the dumplings. A few simple ingredients, flour, baking powder, salt, milk & a little dill mixed together until combined.

Drop the dumpling dough, by the tablespoon, into the simmering broth, cover and cook until the dumplings have cooked through, about 3-4 minutes. Carefully add the shredded chicken meat and vegetables back to the pot and simmer for one minute to heat through.

Serve generous portions of this in large bowls and enjoy this warm and comforting meal when the weather is a bit nippy out!